Deadhouse Gates (The Malazan Book of the Fallen, Book 2) (Paperback)

~ (Author) "A corkscrew plume of dust raced across the basin, heading deeper into the trackless desert of the Pan'potsun Odhan..." (more)
Key Phrases: shaved knuckle, historian glanced, cadre mage, Iskaral Pust, High Fist, High Priest (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

*Starred Review* The second of the projected 10 volumes of the Malazan Book of the Fallen raises the stakes set by Gardens of the Moon [BKL My 15 04]. From the Holy Desert Raraku, in the land of the Seven Cities, the seer Sha'ik sends her followers out on a holy war known as the Whirlwind. It bears more than a passing resemblance to the current violent Islamic jihad, but Erikson's scholarship is sufficiently thorough to enable him to avoid simpleminded likeness making. His imagination is also sufficient to bring the setting of the Seven Cities vividly to life, although his realism is rather literally gritty, including a great deal of sand and gravel that will inevitably recall for some readers a country in which American troops are now fighting. The opposition to the Whirlwind is varied but includes the inevitable mercenaries, limned in the manner that stems from David Drake's sf and in fantasy is practiced particular skillfully by Glen Cook. Erikson is making his dark characters and grisly battles very much his own, however, and fantasy readers with a strong appetite for world building and action ought to enjoy his efforts. Whether they'll stay for all 10 volumes is another matter, but so far, so good. Roland Green
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

One of the best fantasy novels of the year. -- Neil Walsh, SF Site --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 608 pages
• Publisher: Tor Books; 1st edition (January 27, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0765314290
• ISBN-13: 978-0765314291
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (62 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #527,376 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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• This is item 2 in The Malazan Book of the Fallen Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

49 of 51 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely stunning. A remarkable achievement., March 31, 2005

By	Robert P. Beveridge "xterminal" (Cleveland, OH) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Deadhouse Gates (The Malazan Book of the Fallen, Book 2) (Hardcover)

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. Everyone gets where they're going, all the plot threads are eventually sewn up (except those left as obvious hooks into the remainder of the series), all the details that one almost expects, these days, to see disappear into the dust of all these riders on their journeys come to satisfying conclusions. Erikson's eye for detail is truly astounding in some cases.

One word of warning, though, in case you hadn't yet realized it after reading Gardens of the Moon. Erikson is just as hard on his main characters as is George R. R. Martin; some of the characters in this novel have a decidedly Janet Leigh air about them, but Erikson never once, in the hundreds of pages before he dispatches them, lets you know which ones they'll be, and their deaths often come with the same surprise (and surprisingly-felt sorrow) as the surprising death at the climax of A Game of Thrones (the identity of the victim of which I shall not reveal here to spare those handful of you who have not yet started that equally brilliant series).

An incredible piece of work, quite likely to find its way onto my Best-I-Read list for 2005. **** ½

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Powerful and imaginative, February 10, 2005

By	newyork2dallas (Dallas, Texas United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Deadhouse Gates (The Malazan Book of the Fallen, Book 2) (Hardcover)

It is actually a tribute to Steven Erikson's writing that this book is so hard to plow through. This is because his vivid descriptions of the central heroic event of the novel -- a retreat from a conquering army that is akin to Mao's Long March (although it's the potential "good guys" who are retreating, not a future oppressor of 1/2 of Asia) -- is so realistic. The retreating army's despair, desperation, resignation, determination, heroism, intelligence, brutality (and those of its enemy) are palpable to the point that it is difficult to read of the dire straits of the heroes. The second main plot thread is nearly as dreary as the youngest sister of Gardens of the Moon (book 1) hero Ganoes Paran is captured and sentenced to imprisonment in a mining camp. Her transformation from happy noble youth to defeated young woman to embodying a cultural icon conveys numerous tribulations, and few triumphs.

Deadhouse Gates also has three or more other major story threads that are largely separate from Gardens of the Moon (book 1 of the Malazan Empire series), and is essentially a stand-alone novel. Nonetheless, Deadhouse Gates fits squarely within the overarching narrative that connects all the books in the series (and which becomes more apparent in Memories of Ice, book 3 of the series). It contains the story elements that have launched Erikson's career -- gritty stories of heroism and villainy, vivid action, intriguing cultural elements, a long and rich history preceding the story at hand, unquestioned originality (especially in comparison to 95% of the fantasy fiction available) and the feel that the world he created is starting toward a gargantuan eruption with innumerable initial tremors.

Note that the whole Malazan Cycle is projected at 10 books total, but Erikson writes relatively fast (he's slowed to about 3 Malazan books per every four years, which is pretty good considering the size of the books and the side projects he is working on). Nonetheless, they're worth the time and effort to procure and read.

Highly Recommended.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Gore and Blood, October 8, 2007

By	CMad "tc5998" (Portland, OR) - See all my reviews

First note: Parents, I would rate these books NC16
Erikson's first two books have been notable from the outset in four ways:
1. He immediately plunges us into his system of magic and introduces very powerful figures (like gods). These types of characters are often used very sparingly in more typical fantasy fare. I liked that change.

2. He has obviously spent huge amounts of time fleshing out his history and backstory, the books have the richness and texture that the best fantasy novels have and you feel pulled into a very deep and layered world.

3. Mr Erikson loves gore and horror, but likes writing fantasy novels. So his fantasy novel has LOTS of gore, horror, rape, blood, the murder and rape of children (more often than is appropriate). He is unrelenting and it is off putting and makes the books very difficult. I understand these are "dark" novels, but he rarely balances that darkness. I don't expect levity from him, but at least a respite here and there. He rarely lets an opportunity to stop and fetishize a horror go pass. Instead of main character riding through a square the writer has them encounter a child who men are attempting to rape, the child is saved but the men are murdered in the most grisly fashion possible. In other parts of the book the child isn't saved. He is a talented writer and I am intrigued by his world building, and I recognize that some of this horror is necessary for his style, but I am getting put out by it... I think I will read through book three and if things don't even out then I will be done with this series, the books are really starting to bring on a mood for me that I don't enjoy.

4. The almost total lack of romantic or simple kindness in love. People are loyal, they are comrades in arms, they back each other up as soldiers, but there is no overt caring or sympathy even between characters that truly seem to have that kind of relationship. I don't think he likes to write these scenes, so he doesn't... not when someone could be beheaded instead! I don't want the books to be mushy, I want Mr Erikson to stay true to his style, but the books are missing something so far, and I'm curious to see if he adds any more layers sometime soon.