Deadhouse Gates: A Tale of The Malazan Book of the Fallen

by Steven Erikson

Book Overview

The second novel in the awe-inspiring Malazan Book of the Fallen series. "Gripping, fast-moving, delightfully dark, with a masterful and unapologetic brutality reminiscent of George R. R. Martin." --... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0765348799
• Release Date: February 2006
• Publisher: Tor Fantasy
• Length: 843 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 6.8" x 1.3" x 4.2"

Customer Reviews

Good job lil bro

Made it right

All the Dead Have is History

There is a large misconception about the word "dark" in fantasy. People call something "dark" and suddenly they are talking about werewolves or vampires or a rather perfect example to my point, Anne Bishop, where there is "pain" and rape and the like with characters with bat wings. But that's not really dark. At the heart of the novel, Bishop and many of her dark fantasy brethren are soft. The violence doesn't have any more impact than violence, the rough sex is always overblown like they are trying too hard to make it dark without understanding the mind set, and in the end, you know the main characters are going to make it out okay. They confuse darkness with dark. That isn't dark. Dark, like Heavy Metal, isn't about how loud you are playing, its about how you are making your point. Erikson is dark, so gloriously dark, it almost makes me giddy as a school boy as I turn each page, reveling in each grisly scene, wondering what next horror he is going to unleash, fearful for every character because the world of Malazan the Fallen is a sick, violent world where you could get utterly raped, tortured, killed, possessed, maimed, and/or crucified at one single misstep. See that cloud of flies over in that pond? Those are bloodflies. Bloodflies will burrow into your flesh and their larvae will eat its way out in a few minutes. If you don't die from the pain then you'll have huge gash-like scars on your body for the rest of your life. THAT is dark. That is the mindset of dark. The world can and will kill you, you will die and be forgotten and the only way to escape that fate is for you to do something so gloriously brave and outrageous in the face of that dark world that some historian or poet remembers your name and tells your story. Erikson understands that by making his world dark, by making it that tough and bitter and cruel, it makes every victory that much more amazing. Sure, Richard Rahl is going to pull off some huge feat in the last SoT novel, and I'll smile at it (and be relieved its over). But I won't be wowed. A character just managing to make it through a Malazan novel? I'm amazed. And I'm not just amazed at that. I'm amazed at the prose and the characters, about how much I like some of them and how much I hate others. I'm amazed about just how high fantasy this work is while at the same time being so dark, how humans can ascend to godhood and how other humans can bring those gods low. The "Deadhouse Gates" is even better than the first. Another continent has rebelled against the Empire and a lone Fist and his army must march across it to survive. Some might make it, but from what I've already told you, it will come at a bloody price, and it will be amazing if they do. If. Final Though: One of my Top Five authors in fantasy right now. Its not everyday that someone is more brutal and dark that Martin, and Erikson does it in spades. A real winner.

Absolutely stunning. A remarkable achievement.

Steven Erikson, Deadhouse Gates (Tor, 2000) I finished up page 598 of Deadhouse Gates, and my next act was to go to my library's website and put the third book in the series, Memories of Ice, on hold. Deadhouse Gates is Erikson's second entry in the Malazan Book of the Fallen series, which, despite its rather clumsy series name, is bang-up stuff. Few authors write martial scenes quite this well in high fantasy; Tolkein's final battle in Return of the King, Elizabeth Moon's depictions of day-to-day troop life in The Deed of Paksennarion, just about every aspect of George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire. Yes, I'd rank Erikson with those three. Easily. Readers of Gardens of the Moon may find themselves slightly confused when opening up Deadhouse Gates, no doubt because it takes place half a world away from Darujhistan, the city at the heart of Gardens of the Moon. You'll remember that everyone was worried, at the end of that novel, about something called the Pannion Seer. Well, you'll not see the Pannion Seer, nor most of the surviving characters from Gardens of the Moon, here (from the description I just read, that tale continues in Memories of Ice). Instead, a select few characters have fled east across the sea for various reasons, and only they link the tales. Like Gardens of the Moon, Deadhouse Gates is an ensemble tale, but is even more sprawling in scope; at any given time, Erikson is following between two and six plot threads in alternating sections of any given chapter. There are four main plot threads, through they meander towards and away from each other, split off, and join together differently, throughout the text. The first concerns a trio pressed into slavery-- an ex-priest of Fener the Boar God, a noble-born teen, and a barbarian, none of whom seem to have anything in common, yet who are forced by circumstances to forge an uneasy bond. The second revolves around Duiker, the Imperial Historian (mentioned, but never met, in Gardens of the Moon), who accompanies the Seventh Army on a grueling overland journey from the northern city of Hissar to the southern city of Aren. The third involves Crokus, Apsalar, and Fiddler, three of the characters from Gardens of the Moon, who have come east to try and get Apsalar home to her father. The fourth involves another refugee, Kalam, who has come east for decidedly different means. Deadhouse Gates is, essentially, a tale of journeys. In epic fantasy series (and this one is truly epic in scope; the first three books alone total close to twenty-five hundred pages), the book of journeys, or the book of transitions, is often the weakest in the series (cf. Martin's A Clash of Kings, or King's The Waste Lands). Erikson, on the other hand, has crafted an amazing piece of work in Deadhouse Gates, investing the journeys, and the underlying transitions, with more than enough action and intelligence to keep the reader going, while still getting all the boring stuff out of the way under the surface.

Very moving... Great novel

The sequel to the quite good Gardens Of The Moon, Deadhouse Gates continues Erikson's breathtaking invention.Firstly, perhaps it is just me, but Deadhouse Gates is less awe inspiring in it's invention. There is no 'gawd, would you look at that' type of thing in DhG, as in GotM with Moon's Spawn and the Azath. Personally, I find this to be a good move by Erikson, as more focus is on the plot and the characters. This is where DhG truly shines. Much like Shakespearean tragedy, the characters drive the plot, not the other way around.There is no 'most important' plot within DhG, all of them contribute to the book. In fact, what emerges is synergy, where the entirity is greater than the sum of it's parts. Each thread has it's own throbbing emotion which is beautifully lugubrious. I must make special note of the Chain Of Dogs sub-plot. The final episodes are the most amazing I have read in all of fantasy. In my opinion, fantasy has never produced anything so heartbreaking as the final few chapters of DhG.The characters are worth special note in DhG. They are all solidly constructed, drawing our sympathy, and in some cases - Mappo especially - our empathy. That Erikson achieves this is a true testament to his writing skill. To be able to handle so many characters so deftly and sensitively is a rare feat. Duiker, Felisin, Heboric, Icarium; all are followed with our compassion throughout the novel.While there are moments where it seems characters are walking mindlessly, with nothing going on, there is an important point to these moments. The Seven Cities is a place where the soul wanders, and returns different to what it was. Ultimately, this is what drives DhG. The development of characters. As for claims that some plots are difficult to understand, this is quite untrue. DhG is driven by emotion, not the military intrigue of GotM, or the ancient mysteries of Memories Of Ice. To understand DhG is to feel. Last, but definitely not least: the pace of the novel is still excellent. While the journies of characters are sometimes overwhelmingly detailed, they do not move in circles like Jordan's novels. Everything in Erikson is very direct.In short, better than GotM, and without doubt one of the greatest fantasy novels of all time.

a mix of Glen Cook, David Gemmell and Paul Edwin Zimmer.

One of the previous reviewers said that this book was different from other fanatasy books he's wrong. The story has been done before, in Deadhouse Gates you read echoes of Glen Cook and David Gemmell, but then there is the scope and depth of Paul Edwin Zimmer. "Deadhouse Gates" features some characters from the previous "Gardens of the Moon". The premis is simple a plot has been hatched to slay the empress against this background you have the sub plot of an entire continent in rebellion, the fulfilmet of an ancient prophecy and the corresponding jihad it set's in motion, the introduction of a pair of immortal wanderers one who is potentially the deadliest threat to mankind and all who live, the machinations of shadowthrone, more on the eternal war between the T'lan mass and the Jaghut and on a more intimate and somewhat mundane level the development of a number characters from the previous book. It is all in all a very good read, with heroism that will sate any fan of Gemmell, unrelenting brutality and humour at it's blackest for any Glen Cook fan and finally depth and scope for those few fans of Paul Edwin Zimmer.It's nice to really have despicable villians that you can detest with relish.One character does deserve special mention Coltraine a study of stoic fatalism and master of the wry comment, his campaign of the chain of dogs alone is worth the read.I've been derisive of some writers who seem to write massive tomes with very little substance but Deadhouse Gates is almost 900 pages long, the pages literally turn themselves it's one of the few times that I curse my ability to read fast.I hope Robert Jordan reads this he might get a few ideas on how to get the point. Sorry couldn't resist that but I really have come to dislike his Wheel of Time series as some sort of pointless excerise of female emancipation.Not that there is anything wrong with female emancipation but come on surely I'm not the only one thats finding his series quite the yawn.

Fantasy at its best

If you're looking for a low-calorie dish of light fantasy, this ain't it. If you're looking for a nine-course riot of taste and texture, exotically spiced to make your eyes water, your heart pump faster and your brain do cartwheels inside your cranium, I know a great little Thai place downtown. Or, if you want something analogous to that in your reading, stop at the 'E's and pick up the latest from Steven Erikson. Like 'Gardens of the Moon', and indeed like the whole concept for the 10-volume Malazan series, Deadhouse Gates is an ambitious work that is sometimes in danger of over-reaching itself. But if you can buckle down for the ride, it sure is a frightening one.I don't know what to say, this is the greatest fantasy book I have read ever for a few years. The book starts of a bit slow and your not sure what is happening, as you read on you start to understand what is happening. The book is not just focused on one Character, but serveral. Like most fantasy goods, its good vs Evil, this is different, Good guys do bad things and bad guys do good things and sometimes things that look good are actually bad. So you don't know who's side you are on. In GOTM (Gardens of the Moon), people were say there was not enough history background info, but you find out much in this book, and I'm sure we will find out much more in the future books. The second half of the book, starts to set off fireworks, fast pace action, this book makes you think. Kalam, Crokus, Apsalar, and Fiddler are back, and they got business to sort out. The characters have totally different personalities, and aims. Also we see alot of Parans younger sister Fesilin, and hear much about his older sister. The book is building up to a massive climax for the seven cities, where each side will later have to gamble, take risks, and have the nerves to do what they need to. Also you learn much more about Shadowthrone's and co, history. And the new characters are wicked. S.E really knows all about writing battles, and descripbing exactly what is happening. You'll know what I mean when you read about the Chain Of Dogs.It is quite challenging to read, but when you have finished it, you'll be demanding more. I just can't wait for the next one to come out when they return to Genabackis, coming out in Sep 2001 called 'Memories of Ice'.