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kittyg 's review for:
House of Chains
by Steven Erikson
You know what I think I am kind of still in shock and awe over just HOW MUCH stuff happens in this book. It begins on a whole new part of the land following a single character named Karsa Orlong. The time frame is a little before the events of Gardens of the Moon, but as the story goes on it recounts other events that tie in with all three of the previous books.
I have to say that I adore the character of Karsa Orlong and I now see why so many people have been telling me to watch out for him. He's a battle-crazed, horrible, Warleader who at the beginning of this book knows very little about the world outside of his tribe. I found his initial deeds to be brutal and horrible, yet equally I felt that his lack of culture and teaching of the wider world was certainly reason for his beliefs and actions. He does some terrible things, yet he knows no better until he's forced to venture away from his tribe and out into the wider world.
Karsa was certainly the heaviest focus in this book, particularly in the beginning, but seeing as I love characters who are 'flawed' or interesting and characters that I really want to develop, he was brilliant. He certainly faces a lot of tragedy, loss, trials and revelations over the course of this book, and I felt that his development and integration into the wider societies of the Malazan world were wonderfully done.
Karsa has easily become one of my favourite Malazan characters alongside Kruppe and I think they're both so complex and different but equally compelling, charming and wonderful at their respective times.
The Karsa storyline is the first of the storylines but the other major stories which we're following involve our new Adjunt Tavore, and the Whirlwind Goddess Sha'ik. They have been building up to a war and we've seen the preparations hinted at in previous books, but now the real tactics and battle planning begins. I certainly found myself really disliking the Adjunct actually and no matter what she did over the course of the book this definitely didn't go away for me - especially considering her ties to Sha'ik and the events which unfurl between them.
I found the Sha'ik camp and story to be far more interesting with a fair amount of focus on Ghosthands, Leoman and other returning characters that we learned a lot more of. There were certainly many plots and secrets which were going on at that camp and it made for some very fun and enjoyable reading!
I think seeing the Goddess and Sha'ik's battle within herself was a little tiresome at times, although I see of course how it contributes to the story, but I felt that the way she managed her army and dealt with the various infractions to be very intriguing, much more so than I found the Chain of Dogs in Deadhouse Gates.
We're also following Pearl and Lostara on their hunt for a young girl. We have met this girl before in a previous book and their story, whilst interesting in that it helps us to get to know a bit more about those two characters, seems mostly to be a way of clarifying events which we've seen before. We, as the reader, know what has happened to the young girl they seek, but they have very little to go on and therefore their journey takes them to all sorts of places where they meet all sorts of characters.
I liked seeing more involvement from certain gods in this book and I certainly like any mention of the Deck of Dragons because that's always something exciting. I think that the involvement of the Gods is always a little tricky to understand and fully follow, as they seem often to be two steps ahead, but I liked seeing the various interactions we had between characters with a certain on in particular :)
Cutter and Apsalar's storyline was a bit of a strange one for me and I don't know if I fully understood the things which were set in motion by them. I do think this is something we shall learn more about, and of course I have no doubt that it will be very dramatic and crazy, given the company they keep over the course of the story (some very powerful and some slightly extreme).
Of course I was sad not to see some of the old favourites, but there are still many characters who pop up again or have new names and traits which makes them different somehow and seeing the development of these characters was great.
On the whole I would say this one solidified a LOT of what went on before for me and I felt that I really enjoyed getting to grips with more characters in an in-depth way, and seeing a crazy plotline that really drove forward with a good momentum. I definitely am looking forward to seeing what will happen in Midnight Tides with the characters and how they will react to the events at the end of this one, because... well... let's just say that STUFF HAPPENS.
This is the first one in the series I have given a 5* rating to and I am very happy to do so after being so throughly glued to the book, particularly in Karsa's sections and the ending. Overall a great book which really binds all the books so far together and a solid 5* read :)
I'd love to hear your thoughts about this one too if you have read it!
I have to say that I adore the character of Karsa Orlong and I now see why so many people have been telling me to watch out for him. He's a battle-crazed, horrible, Warleader who at the beginning of this book knows very little about the world outside of his tribe. I found his initial deeds to be brutal and horrible, yet equally I felt that his lack of culture and teaching of the wider world was certainly reason for his beliefs and actions. He does some terrible things, yet he knows no better until he's forced to venture away from his tribe and out into the wider world.
Karsa was certainly the heaviest focus in this book, particularly in the beginning, but seeing as I love characters who are 'flawed' or interesting and characters that I really want to develop, he was brilliant. He certainly faces a lot of tragedy, loss, trials and revelations over the course of this book, and I felt that his development and integration into the wider societies of the Malazan world were wonderfully done.
Karsa has easily become one of my favourite Malazan characters alongside Kruppe and I think they're both so complex and different but equally compelling, charming and wonderful at their respective times.
The Karsa storyline is the first of the storylines but the other major stories which we're following involve our new Adjunt Tavore, and the Whirlwind Goddess Sha'ik. They have been building up to a war and we've seen the preparations hinted at in previous books, but now the real tactics and battle planning begins. I certainly found myself really disliking the Adjunct actually and no matter what she did over the course of the book this definitely didn't go away for me - especially considering her ties to Sha'ik and the events which unfurl between them.
I found the Sha'ik camp and story to be far more interesting with a fair amount of focus on Ghosthands, Leoman and other returning characters that we learned a lot more of. There were certainly many plots and secrets which were going on at that camp and it made for some very fun and enjoyable reading!
I think seeing the Goddess and Sha'ik's battle within herself was a little tiresome at times, although I see of course how it contributes to the story, but I felt that the way she managed her army and dealt with the various infractions to be very intriguing, much more so than I found the Chain of Dogs in Deadhouse Gates.
We're also following Pearl and Lostara on their hunt for a young girl. We have met this girl before in a previous book and their story, whilst interesting in that it helps us to get to know a bit more about those two characters, seems mostly to be a way of clarifying events which we've seen before. We, as the reader, know what has happened to the young girl they seek, but they have very little to go on and therefore their journey takes them to all sorts of places where they meet all sorts of characters.
I liked seeing more involvement from certain gods in this book and I certainly like any mention of the Deck of Dragons because that's always something exciting. I think that the involvement of the Gods is always a little tricky to understand and fully follow, as they seem often to be two steps ahead, but I liked seeing the various interactions we had between characters with a certain on in particular :)
Cutter and Apsalar's storyline was a bit of a strange one for me and I don't know if I fully understood the things which were set in motion by them. I do think this is something we shall learn more about, and of course I have no doubt that it will be very dramatic and crazy, given the company they keep over the course of the story (some very powerful and some slightly extreme).
Of course I was sad not to see some of the old favourites, but there are still many characters who pop up again or have new names and traits which makes them different somehow and seeing the development of these characters was great.
On the whole I would say this one solidified a LOT of what went on before for me and I felt that I really enjoyed getting to grips with more characters in an in-depth way, and seeing a crazy plotline that really drove forward with a good momentum. I definitely am looking forward to seeing what will happen in Midnight Tides with the characters and how they will react to the events at the end of this one, because... well... let's just say that STUFF HAPPENS.
This is the first one in the series I have given a 5* rating to and I am very happy to do so after being so throughly glued to the book, particularly in Karsa's sections and the ending. Overall a great book which really binds all the books so far together and a solid 5* read :)
I'd love to hear your thoughts about this one too if you have read it!