Deadhouse Gates
Steven Erikson
941 pages
published in 2000

Deadhouse Gates is the second book in Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen epic fantasy series of ten projected volumes. Whereas the previous volume, Gardens of the Moon had a severe case of everything but the kitchensink plotting, this is much more focussed. Of course, it's still a 900+ pages epic fantasy brick with several interlocking storylines, not all of which are wrapped up in this installment. You have to expect a certain amount of complexity.

This second book of the Malazan cycle takes place on a completely different continent from the first, with a largely new cast of characters, some of which are however related to the people we got to know in Gardens of the Moon. The central story revolves around a religious revolts on the subcontinent of the Seven Cities, one of the oldest conquests of the Malazan empire. For decades there has been a prophecy doing the rounds about the return of the Whirlwind, which would cleanse the Seven Cities and drive the Malazan out of the continent. Now it has started and most of the Seven Cities, apart from the capital of Aren have fallen.

On the east coast of the continent, the Malazan 7th army is gathered, under the leadership of a legendary Fist Coltane, a Wickan horse warrior. His task is to evacuate some 50,000 Malazan civilians from the cities on the east coast to Aren and safety. Normally this would've been done by sea, but the fleet is needed to keep Aren safe so the Malazan would've a bridgehead for the retaking of the continent. instead, the refugees will have to undergo a journey through the heart of the continent, some 1,000 miles or more, while under attack of the followers of the Whirlwind all the way. This journey would become known as the Chain of Dogs

Meanwhile in the second storyline Felisin Paran, youngest sister of captain Paran from Gardens of the Moon, has been caught up in a cull of the Malazan nobility and banished to the otataral mines on Otataral Island. When the Seven Cities rebellion reaches there as well, she escapes onto the continent together with Heboric, a renegade Malazan historian and priest of Fener. They get bound up in the plots of the gods when Heboric manages to reach his god and forces him to physically manifest in the mortal world. The last major plotline concerns Crokus, Apsalar, Fiddler and Kalam, all last seen leaving Genobacksis at the end of Gardens of the Moon. They are on a convoluted mission to get revenge to what happened to Apsalar in the previous book, but get caught up in the Rebellion.

As said, this is much less incoherent, much less of a wild ride than Gardens of the Moon was, the story of the Chain of Dogs bringing structure to this novel. You could concievably even use this as a starting point for the series as a whole, skipping the first volume. Because it's more conventionally structured it's easier to get in and you don't really need the first book to appreciate this one. However if you do so, I would recommend backtracking before tackling the third volume, as that does require more direct knowledge of what happened in Gardens of the Moon.

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