Pascale Potgieter

Happy Fenton

In the vast dominion of Seven Cities, in the Holy Desert Raraku, the seer Sha’ik and her followers prepare for the long-prophesied uprising known as the Whirlwind. Unprecedented in size and savagery, this maelstrom of fanaticism and bloodlust will embroil the Malazan Empire in one of the bloodiest conflicts it has ever known, shaping destinies and giving birth to legends.

Nelson

Christopher O'Bannon

Nicholas Nunn

Eric Hawke

Ethan Wegner

Rob Thornton

Ron Gallagher

James Roberts

Alya Martens

Wiklober

Anuhas Fonseka

tom nixon

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Deadhouse Gates

Deadhouse Gates  by Marc Simonetti       Deadhouse Gates  is the second book in  The Malazan Book of the Fallen  series. Unlike your typical sequel, this felt more like a standalone sequel featuring almost a completely new set of characters in a totally different continent with a brand new self-contained main story. The story of the book revolves around the rebellion in the Seven Cities; the setting of the first book was in Genabackis. Although this installment felt denser to read—it also has 70k more words—and arguably more complex than  Gardens of the Moon , in my opinion, the narrative was more unputdownable than its predecessor. 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. If you’re in the mood for a hopeful book, this isn’t the time for you to read this one.  Deadhouse Gates  is a much darker book in every possible way compared to  Gardens of the Moon . I honestly feel like this book can be described as a gradual descent into palpable despair and madness.       “Children are dying." Lull nodded. "That's a succinct summary of humankind, I'd say. Who needs tomes and volumes of history? Children are dying. The injustices of the world hide in those three words.”    Coltaine. Without spoiling anything for you, all I can say is that there’s no way you won’t be inspired by Coltaine’s actions. It is very intriguing to me that Coltaine, like Anomander Rake, didn’t even have a POV chapter, and yet he managed to completely steal the spotlight. For the majority of the time, we followed Coltaine’s journey through Duiker’s perspectives, and you know what? That’s totally okay with me. Similar to Duiker and Coltaine’s soldiers, I’m content with being left in awe and astonished at the superhuman feat he’s doing with his Chain of Dogs. The gradual loyalty and respect he achieved through his actions were unforgettable. Actions speak louder than words, and Coltaine proved that elevenfold.        “It is one thing to lead by example with half a dozen soldiers at your back. It is wholly another with ten thousand.”       I’ve mentioned in my  Gardens of the Moon  review that the climax sequences felt anti-climactic, especially after having such an epic scope to the overall book. However, by Hood’s gates, Erikson’s battle sequences in  Deadhouse Gates  were bloody awesome and intricately written. Erikson hasn’t shown his capability to write close-quarter combats yet, but when it comes to grand and epic scopes confrontations, he’s top-notch at it. The rain of mayhem, the vivid bloody carnage; it felt like watching an inevitable avalanche happening in real-time. I’m just utterly amazed by the maelstrom of sorcery and the calamity that occurred.  Honestly speaking, I had one minor issue with the book, a few plotlines in the book that involved ships were sluggish for me to get through. However, the main reason why I didn't enjoy this installment as much as I hoped was due to being spoiled. Fans of the series constantly told me that there was one powerful scene in  Deadhouse Gates  that will break my heart and soul; this didn’t happen to me because I’ve been spoiled on the event itself in detail, MULTIPLE times. Not only that, but it also distracted my reading experience because I can’t stop thinking about the event itself. Thank you to the “extremely knowledgeable fans” for spoiling me even though I didn’t ask any questions. Some Malazan fanatics seriously deserves an award for being the biggest assholes; they lived up to their reputation for shoving their Malazan knowledge down people’s throat without people asking. “Oh, you didn’t ask for spoilers? I’ll still force it down your throat, boy.” Let me say this, I absolutely don’t care about your understanding or knowledge of any series if you’re going to spoil my reading experience. I’ve mentioned this countless times, spoilers have the potential to ruin a reader’s experience. For newcomers to this series, I suggest that every time you see the word Malazan in any kind of discussion, immediately scroll through them. Trust me, most of the time, there will be unasked and unmarked spoilers. Also, DO NOT CHECK the cover art for  Deadhouse Gates  Subterranean Edition or the Spanish edition. The art director was so ignorant of spoilers that they decided to make sure the cover depicts the most impactful and the biggest event of the book. Genius.       “The lesson of history is that no one learns.”    Alfred, Alya, Annabeth, Ben, Blaise, Devin, Diana, Edward, Hamad, Helen, Jimmy Nutts, Joie, Lufi, Melinda, Mike, Miracle, Nicholas, Seth, Shaad, Summer, Zoe.

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