Deadhouse Gates Book Review

Deadhouse Gates is Steven Erikson’s second installment to his groundbreaking series, The Malazan Book of the Fallen. If anything Erikson’s work is better than in his first novel, Gardens of the Moon. I found even more intrigue, more hidden plots, and a stunning amount of history to this complex world.

I absolutely loved it. This is my kind of fantasy, the kind that draws you in and spits you out hours later. It takes me days after I finish each book to stop thinking about the stories. Erikson’s imagination is contagious. I want more.

Pros: Super complex, great characters, interesting plot lines, intellectual writing, original work

Cons: Super complex, sometime loses the reader, almost too good

-WeariedJuggler

Gardens of the Moon Book Review

Inside the covers was a world so honest that it approached cruelty. It was beautiful. Steven Erikson created a world unrivaled in its vastness; only to give us a glimpse of it in Gardens of the Moon. The civilizations, and even the continents that they inhabit, are merely blades of grass to the fields of history Erikson has created.

This book is extremely intelligent and philosophical. I would like to say it is real, because of the way Erikson brutally delivers his truths. It is refreshing to find a story that doesn’t protect protagonists. I always feel cheated when movies or novels make the heroes into immortal gods. In the Malazan Book of the Fallen, heroes die. And so do gods.

I wholeheartedly recommend this book. The characters are vibrant, and the world is complex enough to keep ones mind reeling for weeks at a time; it steers clear of the Tolkien rip-offs we often see in fantasy today, and delivers beauty in the form intrigue, magic, and stark cruelty.

-WeariedJuggler