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. When they’re not bickering with one another or being demoted, Gesler and Stormy generally occupy themselves with ‘educating’ their squad’s newest recruit, Truth.

It’s not clear what he wants, or who he works for, but it’s pretty obvious he’s some kind of highly qualified nasty bastard. Mallick Rel urges Pormqual to sally to face Dom rather than wait a week for Tavore's fleet, and the army is surrounded and surrenders at Rel's urging. Coltaine's warlocks, led by Sormo E'nath, defeat a Semk tribal god by loosing the spirits of the land against it. 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.Feared and mistrusted as he is by nobility and commoners alike, you’d think his army would crumble within minutes. 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. His characterization is brilliant, and he has created people you cheer for (who wouldn’t follow Coltaine? 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.

This is the only novel in the series where the UK and US editions share the same cover; the other US books use a different cover artist and style. Meanwhile, Icarium, a half-Jaghut immortal inventor and warrior whose wantonly destructive past has been removed from his memory to protect the world, travels in the company of Mappo Runt, a Trell warrior, who is secretly charged with monitoring and, ultimately, controlling Icarium's rage. 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. The main action of Memories of Ice, the third novel in the series, partially overlaps that of Deadhouse Gates.

You’ll know by now that the Malazan marines (like Fiddler and Kalam) are the toughest sumbitches this side of Hood’s gate.

Mebra is yet another minion of the Apocalypse, and is about as trustworthy as you’d expect someone with a name that sounds like ‘cobra’ to be. They are brutally realistic, and I feel like I am reading the accounts of an eye witness of battles in our own world like The Somme, Vimy Ridge, Ortona or D-Day. Felisin's early storyline was actually a nightmare to listen to, partially because she is so fucking unlikeable.They leave to seek her out and find instead Fiddler, Crokus, and Apsalar, who have made their way through storms, rebel pursuers, and the ongoing shapeshifter battle. Apsalar, Crokus, and Servant ask to go to Apsalar’s home in Itko Kan; Kalam and Minala join Apt in the new Shadow warren home of the 1300 crucified children; and Fiddler re-enlists to join Tavore’s host. One of Coltaine's officers recognizes Gesler as a former captain, and when Gesler threatens to punch him if he's promoted again, Coltaine punches Gesler and breaks his own hand; Nil concludes that Gesler, Stormy, and Truth are nearly ascended. He lives with his wife, their two youngest children, and their black lab in a 160 year-old stone home, which also holds his law office. 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.