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

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Felisin Paran, the youngest sister of Ganoes Paran, a protagonist of the preceding novel, and Empress Laseen's new Adjunct Tavore Paran, is caught up in a cull of the nobility by Laseen, who is intent on removing rival centers of power. Mebra is yet another minion of the Apocalypse, and is about as trustworthy as you’d expect someone with a name that sounds like ‘cobra’ to be. Erikson sang his dark chorus to color the tone of the book with a bleakly crimson tone; his melody of doom never ceases to expand. But for those of us who share these characters’ trials and tribulations, what’s most incredible is that Erikson can make us grieve even for the ones he hasn’t killed off.

The story of the book revolves around the rebellion in the Seven Cities; the setting of the first book was in Genabackis. Coltaine’s sappers are among the refugees and save many, as does Sormo, who’s killed in combat; 20,000 refugees die all told.

Deadhouse Gates", the second book in the Malazan Book of the Fallen series, shifts the action to the continent of Seven Cities, on the brink of a holy rebellion known as the Whirlwind. Big, bad, brutal – from the moment we first meet him, shackled alongside Felisin, it’s clear that the apparently thuggish Baudin is a stone-cold killer. The company takes refuge in a cave network to avoid Raraku’s whirling sand, and finds a First Empire city of T’lan Imass destroyed in hours by the outbreak of conflict between the Soletaken and D’ivers and signs in a Deck of Holds that the Beast Hold throne is empty. Icarium, whose wantonly destructive past has been removed from his memory to protect the world, travels in the company of Mappo Runt, a Trell warrior, who is secretly charged with monitoring and, ultimately, controlling Icarium's rage. His position as an advisor and powerful Shadow mage means Sha’ik lets him not only get away with murder but also with rape, female genital mutilation, and a whole host of other kinds of abuse.

Felisin's early storyline was actually a nightmare to listen to, partially because she is so fucking unlikeable. Past Vathar the column passes through the remains of a war between the Jaghut and pursuing T’lan Imass. Fiddler, Crokus, Servant, and Apsalar find their way to Malaz City, where the Deadhouse’s Guardian Gothos reveals that Icarium is his son and his crime was to wound a warren while trying to free Gothos from the Azath (though Gothos wanted to be there). Deadhouse Gates follows on from the first novel, Gardens of the Moon, and takes place simultaneously with events in the third novel Memories of Ice. Sergeant Gesler and his squad are mooching around at a miserable coastal posting when the Whirlwind Rebellion sweeps into town.The sweet lil’ fishergirl possessed by the Patron of Assassins and then slipped into the Bridgeburners as their creepy-arsed new recruit? Erikson appears to be doing something big and shiny, but I have not yet been quite able to grasp what it is. Felisin and Heboric travel to Sha’ik’s oasis with Leoman and Toblakai, whom Heboric says carries chained souls. Apsalar, Crokus, and Servant ask to go to Apsalar's home in Itko Kan; Kalam and Minala join Apt in the new Shadow warren home of the 1300 crucified children; and Fiddler re-enlists to join Tavore's host. 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.

Why does he refuse to leave Felisin behind, even though she’s a burden (and a complete pain in the arse)? Meanwhile, Fiddler, Kalam, Crokus, and Apsalar (formerly Sorry), following the events of Gardens of the Moon, land in Ehrlitan, one of the Seven Cities. Erikson has interweaving plots and sub-plots, and he expertly ties them together by the end of this book.has also given out directions to the House, essentially sending an open invitation to any Soletaken and D’ivers who happen to be in the area. Now that I’ve read Deadhouse Gates, I finally understand why people insist newcomers on continuing to the second book first. As a childhood victim of her own native culture’s barbarism, Lostara is a staunch supporter of the Malazan occupation and will do all she can to maintain it. Pust, later en route home, finds the spider d’ivers Mogora hiding in his clothing, but uninterested in the Path of Hands, and sees the dragon T’lan Imass Bonecaster, guardian of the real gate at his temple, leave into a warren. As Fiddler, Crokus, and Apsalar travel separately through Raraku, Apsalar's memories gradually confirm that the Rope, the patron god of assassins, who possessed her as Sorry, was the previous Emperor Kellenvad's assassin Dancer, and that Kellenvad and Dancer must have escaped Laseen's assassination efforts by ascending to godhood over the new Warren and House of Shadow.