Deadhouse Gates by Steven Erikson
My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

Coltaine, the Wickans, and the Chain of Dogs. Enough said.

People told me that when you’re starting Malazan Book of the Fallen, it’s mandatory to read at least two or three books in the series before finally deciding on giving up on the series. One of the main reasons behind this is that Deadhouse Gates is considered one of the strongest installment within the series by the fans after Memories of Ice and The Bonehunters. Now that I’ve read Deadhouse Gates, I finally understand why people insist newcomers on continuing to the second book first. However, please do check your expectation. Despite how much I loved this installment, I’m actually slightly disappointed with how it turns out; more detail on this further down below.

Picture: 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.”

My experience of reading this book—especially on reread—was much better than reading its predecessor; I loved it. In Gardens of the Moon, I felt invested only in a few of the characters, but Erikson has delivered what I wanted with the characterizations here. The characterizations were superb; they felt more fleshed out, and their dialogues were great. Although almost all the characters featured in Deadhouse Gates are new—with only a few characters from the first book being featured—to the series, but the new characters—whether you love or hate them—were so damn engaging and compelling to read. We have Icarium and Mappo’s friendship, the complex Felisin, and the best of them all, Duiker’s storyline. Duiker’s POV chapters were easily the best part of the book for me, and anyone who has read this book will definitely know why. Spectacular character developments aside, it was because of the new character inclusion: 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 Press Edition or the Spanish edition. The art director was so careless of spoilers that they decided to make sure the cover explicitly depicts the most impactful and the biggest event of the book. I don’t mind a vague depiction, but the imagery here was too obvious I immediately knew who and what would happen to the character after reading about the first encounter with him.

“The lesson of history is that no one learns.”

Overall though, despite my rant—once again—on the fanatics of the series, I do have to give the benefit of the doubt (I’ll round up my rating on Goodreads) to this book because even though my reading experience was downgraded because due to being majorly spoiled, the overall content of the book was hauntingly vivid and memorable. Deadhouse Gates is truly a stunning and bloodily bleak sequel. Erikson doesn’t hold back with his punches and I envisioned any newcomer to this book will definitely feel heart-wrenched and mesmerized. I will continue immediately to Memories of Ice, a book that’s been acclaimed by the fans as the best or the second best installment of the series and I hope I’ll feel the same about it.

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