Deadhouse Gates (The Malazan Book of the Fallen, Book 2)
2000
- fiction, science fiction, space opera
- fantasy fiction
- fantasy
- fiction
- fiction, fantasy, general
- prophets
- imaginary wars and battles
The story
The second book in Steven Erikson's thrilling epic fantasy series chronicling the ill-fated Malazan Empire.Weakened by events in Darujhistan, the Malazan Empire teeters on the brink of anarchy. In the vast dominion of Seven Cities, in the Holy Desert Raraku, the seer Sha'ik gathers an army around her in preparation for the long-prophesied uprising named the Whirlwind. Unprecedented in its size and savagery, it will embroil in one of the bloodiest conflicts it has ever known: a maelstrom of fanaticism and bloodlust that will shape destinies and give birth to legends... In the Otataral mines, Felisin, youngest daughter of the disgraced House of Paran, dreams of revenge against the sister who sentenced her to a life of slavery. Escape leads her to raraku, where her soul will be reborn and her future made clear. The now-outlawed Bridgeburners, Fiddler and the assassin Kalam, have vowed to return the once god-possessed Apsalar to her homeland, and to confront and kill the Empress Laseen, but events will overtake them too. Meanwhile, Coltaine, the charismatic commander of the Malaz 7th Army, will lead his battered, war-weary troops in a last, valient running battle to save the lives of thirty thousand refugees and, in so doing, secure an illustrious place in the Empire's chequered history. And into this blighted land come two ancient wanderers, Mappo and his half-Jaghut companion Icarium, bearers of a devastating secret that threatens to break free of its chains... Set in a brilliantly-realized world ravaged by anarchy and dark, uncontrollable magic, Deadhouse Gates is the thrilling, brutal second chapter in the Malazan Book of the Fallen. A powerful novel of war, intrigue and betrayal, it confirms Steven Erikson as a storyteller of breathtaking skill, imagination and originality - a new master of epic fantasy.
What it’s like
Dense, sprawling prose that moves between many viewpoints like a camera cutting across a battlefield, with long sweeping passages of desert heat, dust, and sunbaked stone, then sudden close-ups of soldiers' gallows humour and grief. The sensory world is gritty and tactile: sand in the teeth, the stink of camp latrines and blood, sweltering nights under alien stars, the grind of marching columns. The voice is weary and wry, often sardonic, with a battle-worn lyricism that slips into myth and prophecy. Pacing is uneven by design, slow and immersive in the wastes, then abruptly violent. Violence is frequent, brutal and unsparing, with graphic battlefield deaths, torture, and cruelty; sexual content appears and can be harsh, and the tone turns grim and bleak more often than not. Its people are damaged survivors and schemers slowly reckoning with loss, power and what they owe each other. It suits readers who want an immersive, long-haul epic with grit, moral weight and a sense of huge, unfolding history, and it is not a gentle or cozy read.
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