Tor Books Deadhouse Gates

Deadhouse Gates is the second of the MALAZAN novels, but it does not pick up where Gardens of the Moon left off. The events in it occur immediately after Gardens of the Moon, but they are on a different continent, and using largely different characters. The MALAZAN books do this — the third book, Memories of Ice, goes back to Genebackis, and so on. The main plot behind Deadhouse Gates is the rebellion of the people of the Seven Cities in Darujhistan, which calls itself the Whirlwind, and how elements of the Malazan Empire in the Seven Cities try to survive. We are introduced to Duiker, the Imperial Historian, who recounts the March of Dogs of the great general Coltaine, who tasks himself with protecting the Malazan refugees in their attempt to reach safety across an entire continent. The theme so obvious in this story line is the civilian population’s disdain and contempt for the soldiers who are quite literally keeping them alive. In addition to Coltaine’s March, there are a number of vital sub-plots that underpin the entire series, but due to the length of this review, I won’t go into them.Erikson has interweaving plots and sub-plots, and he expertly ties them together by the end of this book. His characterization is brilliant, and he has created people you cheer for (who wouldn’t follow Coltaine?) and people you despise (Felisin — read the book and you will know what I mean), and one’s you identify with (Duiker) but at the same time you understand why they are the way they are. I found the ending of the book a bit improbable, and Erikson went over the top at the end in his pursuit of brutal reality, but I cannot say more without spoiling the read.My biggest difficulty is the world building aspect. This is not the classic medieval fantasy world, but it appears to be a blend of the Roman Empire and Henry V (you have crossbows and explosives and heavy cavalry, but Roman organization), and it “feels” middle eastern. I like this a lot. The Malazan world is very well-done and complex, and it is on a scale more massive than anything I have ever seen, but the reader is not given much information about why things are the way they are, despite there being two 1000-page novels under his or her belt. I am not asking for an info-dump, but Erikson could do a better job of educating his readers about this incredibly imaginative world he has co-created (Ian Cameron Esslemont has written two books in the Malazan world). However, he only releases little bits of history here and there, and so this reader, at least, is left feeling a little lost. Perhaps this world is just too big and different for Erikson to be able to do so. Also, if you can find a person who understands the Warren system of magic, please have them explain it to me. I won’t try, because I cannot understand it at all … which is not necessarily a bad thing. Can we really understand something supernatural anyway? I have the sneaking suspicion that Erikson intended his systems of magic to be incomprehensible.Erikson’s military campaigns read like history come alive. They are brutally realistic, and I feel like I am reading the accounts of an eye witness of battles in our own world like The Somme, Vimy Ridge, Ortona or D-Day. A veteran soldier would be better able to pronounce on this aspect of Erikson’s work. His world is awful and as messy as ours is, and for this he is to be applauded. He is one of the writers that shows that fantasy has grown up and become something even more deserving of the respect that more conventional genres enjoy. However, fantasy does not get much darker than Erikson. Deadhouse Gates is brutal, and very, very human — at least, at our worst. The best description I have heard is that people would love to vacation in Middle Earth, but they wouldn’t go to the Malazan Empire in a million years. This is not a book or series for the faint of heart or the unintelligent, and I cannot recommend this book for young adults, due to the sheer amount of brutal violence (including rape and brutal, violent mob murders, etc.). There is very little light to balance the grim reality of Erikson’s fantasy, and that appears to be the trend in fantasy today. Personally, I prefer a little more balance, which in its own way is more realistic, but I do not fault Erikson for this. He has created a masterpiece.

amazing book but not product. torn in blurb

Leves desconchamientos, algún doblez típico del transporte. Pero lo que es el contenido del libro, las páginas están en buena condición, perfectas.

I love it!

I read Garden of The Moon last month and liked it engouh to try the second novel in the series. But.If the world created by Steven Erickson is rich and full and perfect for any fantasy lover, his way of presenting it and his writing style makes it hard to enjoy the read. It’s only when closing the book that you say “wow, so many ideas, no many nuances, it’s great”. But when you’re reading it … It’s too elliptic (“wait … Why is he saying that ?” and five minutes of relfection later “ok maybe because of that”), and too dense to have the time to enjoy everything : every new element or new name is barely explained. While I very much appreciate being told a story of a different world as if I was of that world (it makes me feel intelligent, that the author doesn’t have to explain ten times every news weird element), he does that to the point that you lose all your interest in everything new, rendering the story pretty flat : ok he found that or did that, but who cares since I don’t even remember what race he’s from and his story is ?It’s a good try at insisting on the realistic dimension of fantasy (by concentrating only on actions and dialogues of the characters, and relinduishing descriptions and static information to a minimum), even though the poetic dimension if non-existent, and the characters are pushed so much into a sort of material realism and scientifically presented that you’re surprised they have sometimes strong feelings. I liked Felisin because she seemed to hate a lot of people, and the only one expressing any kind kind of emotion helping you shaping some sort of lasting visual of her character. As for the others, they give a blurry impression : too many details but nothing standing out enough to differentiate them a lot from the others (even if they’re from different races or tribes … Since you don’t know anything about it anyway, it doesn’t even help). They all seem interesting and complex, more of less going with the flow of the story, but … Contrary to many other fantasy books, I wouldn’t be able to draw the picture I have in mind of each of them, simply because I don’t have one and the book didn’t let me have one.This book makes you feel like you’re reading an awful lot of nuances and details and interesting small things that might be potentially significant and enjoyable, but you miss the point because the big picture is reduced to a minimum. Only details, lost in a sea of other details, in a world that is very rich and complex. Quite frustrating. I need a big picture and grand things and epic stuff to value the small things. Maybe if I read a second time it’ll be better. I wonder if the third book gets improvements on that …