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

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The Trygalle Trade Guild arrives via warren to provide food and water from Dujek and friends in Darujhistan and a bottle for Coltaine to crush against his chest when the time comes ("never underestimate the Empress"), and all present realize that Dujek's alleged treason is false and he fights alongside his former enemies against the Pannion Seer at the Empress's behest. Every time the old Sha’ik gets too, well, old, she’s replaced with a younger girl in an endless cycle of decay and rebirth. Felisin and Heboric travel to Sha’ik’s oasis with Leoman and Toblakai, whom Heboric says carries chained souls. My experience of reading this book—especially on reread—was much better than reading its predecessor; I loved it. One of the T’lan Imass sacrifices himself to heal the breach in the warren, and the Imass take one of the heads, but they leave the humans behind to find their own way out.

Coltaine's sappers are among the refugees and save many, as does Sormo, who's killed in combat; 20,000 refugees die all told. Maybe I am being dense, but this is the second of his books that I have read, and I have the pervasive feeling as I progress through this series that I am missing something important, but I can’t put my finger on what precisely that is. Icarium finds one of his own time-measuring devices intact and 94,000 years old in the midst of a destroyed First Empire city, but accepts Fiddler and Mappo's assurances that an ascendant or god must be responsible for the destruction. I honestly feel like this book can be described as a gradual descent into palpable despair and madness.

have just one directive: to escort as many survivors as possible to the continent’s lone occupied city, Aren.

The interior of Tremorlor is like a map of all Azath Houses, and Pust and then Icarium and Mappo disappear to other parts of the world. 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. and people you despise (Felisin — read the book and you will know what I mean), and one’s you identify with (Duiker) but at the same time you understand why they are the way they are. Why does he remain attached to Felisin and Heboric (not literally; the chains do come off at some point) despite being more than capable of going it alone? At P’atha crossing, Nil and Nether sacrifice a mare to gift Coltaine's heavy cavalry with strength enough to charge up Kamist Reloe's artificial ramp, and they are helped by the wayward sappers who hid themselves in the ramp the night before; the marines ably guard the wounded and a Wickan band guarding the refugees destroys its attackers, though not without losses of refugees, and attacks the flanking tribes’ flanks to drive them away.Mappo reveals to Fiddler that he and Icarium have found carvings in Pust’s temple that resemble the Deck of Dragons, but with ancient Holds rather than modern Houses, and suspect that the shapeshifters’ Path of Hands may end at the temple itself and that Pust hopes that he and Icarium will defend it. This is my first Malazan audiobook and while some of the voices are okay, he sounded like a whiney brat, which is super offputting for what is supposed to be one of the greatest rulers in history so far as I can tell. 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. Lightening fast, the dhenrabi snapped at the shaft, its thin, saw-edged teeth slicing through the quarrel and shattering the clay ball, releasing to the air the powdery mixture within the ball.

As you can imagine, the subsequent clashes on the Path of Hands between Soletaken and D’ivers (and our poor heroes caught in the middle! If you’re wondering why the name Tavore Paran sounds familiar, let me remind you that her brother, Ganoes, was the very first character we met in Gardens of the Moon. 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. 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. 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.Now imagine if he’d been able to a) split himself into multiple animagus forms, and b) use those forms as living Horcruxes. Kamist Reloe finally captures Coltaine before the city and crucifies him, but the archer Squint kills him from the city wall at Duiker’s urging and thousands of crows arrive to carry off his spirit. I liked Mappo and Icarium, I liked Fiddler, I liked Heboric, I liked Kulp, I liked Duiker and I liked Kalam. Coltaine insists that Duiker keep the bottle Dujek sent him because it’s more important that the empire’s memory survive than its soldiers.