Deadhouse Gates
may have been a difficult novel for me to read due to illness, but it was a
book which showed a clear direction for Malazan Book of the Fallen. The series would not be following characters,
but following a world, and House of Chains, the fourth book in the
sequence, follows up that second book’s plot concurrently with Memories of
Ice. These are essentially two
stories being told in parallel, and as such understanding Memories of Ice
helps a great deal in understanding House of Chains. The book is the longest entry in the series yet,
clocking in at 1,017 pages, and begins in a rather interesting way. Like the previous novels, there are several
parties all having their connections, too many to fully detail in a review, but
what House of Chains feels like more than anything is setting up of
several chess pieces on a board where there is only one player, the evil
player, the Crippled God. The Crippled
God doesn’t appear here, but his presence is felt, especially by the climax. Steven Erikson devotes the first part of the
narrative, over 200 pages, to chronicling a single character. Apparently, this choice was made on a bet
that he couldn’t follow a single character.
This may do this section an injustice, as going past that first section
into the standard jumping between characters and plotlines doesn’t actually
cause any sort of non-linear sequences.
The first part of the book leads right up to the point where the second
part begins, and so on and so forth. Erikson
also doesn’t fall into the trap of making this part of the novel feel separate
like a novella: the character it follows does have a large part to play in House
of Chains proper and the events do have bearing on the plot of the rest of
the novel.
Karsa Orlong is the character whom we follow throughout
the first part of the novel. Orlong is a
warrior from Teblor and his story is one of a child attempting to grow up. He is not a literal child, however, he is
inexperienced and had an upbringing in a tribe of warriors. He sets out with a crew to rape and pillage
the area. Now these topics are difficult
to discuss and include in any book, and I have already discussed several
stories where they were included, but not well, often mishandling them. Steven Erikson doesn’t really do this, making
the horrors Karsa Orlong performs throughout this section and the rest of the novel
hold the weight of such actions. This is
not a character that is meant to be liked: this is a character who was cast out
from his own family and does not hesitate to murder those he comes across. There is an entire chapter devoted to these
horrendous acts so the reader really can sink in just who this person is and
what he means. The rest of his
appearances are rarely from his perspective, but the point of this first 200 or
so pages is to watch Karsa Orlong cement himself as among the worst people in
the Malazan world, before showing him fall. Giving this character such a big fall, like
Erikson does here, pulls a switch for the reader. The reader can see that Karsa Orlong has a
chance at redemption, which he doesn’t take, but (and this is a big but) he is a
character who will continue to grow and make blunders. It makes him a fascinating character to
follow and honestly the standout of a very long novel where an uneven pace
makes certain points difficult. Coming
right off Memories of Ice you would expect Erikson to keep that amazing
pace going, however, each part of House of Chains feels fairly uneven,
almost as if Erikson didn’t quite know how much he wanted to reveal here before
changing his mind. This is one of the
factors which made reading this book take such a long undertaking.
The other “new” element brought to light in House
of Chains really isn’t a new element.
Tavore Paran, Adjunct to the Empress, has appeared in each of the previous
entries, however, it is here where the audience can really see what makes her
tick. She is power hungry and trying to
crush several rebellions. She also genuinely
thinks what she is doing is right, but doesn’t know that the Sha’ik Reborn is Felisin,
her own sister. Between Tavore and Felisin
there is this tension mounting throughout the novel, playing on a theme for
each of the Paran siblings. The Paran siblings
have stories all about building towards power: Tavore is the one actively
seeking it and falling to evil acts in that quest, Ganeos has it thrust upon
him and attempts to avoid it, while Felisin is ambivalent and accepts what
becomes of her role after carving her own identity. It’s a theme of siblings and having the two
sisters appear here, Erikson can build to a climax that ends a story. Felisin, as the Sha’ik Reborn comes
completely into her own as a person and has grown to be one of my favorite
characters, if only for her appearance here.
The end of her story is incredibly satisfying and will leave the reader
with a tear in their eye, yet her legacy will live on and the influence will be
felt for books to come.
The path to ascendency is another of Erikson’s overarching
themes and plots, and in House of Chains Cotillion and Shadowthrone each
have a part to play in this novel. Shadowthrone
again is often in the background of scenes as a contender for the other player
in the above chess metaphor, and it is Cotillion who gets the most
involvement. Cotillion has evolved
almost into a trickster figure, popping in here and there to put in advice and nudge
things along, apparently because he feels like helping. As Apsalar and Crokus (who dons the name
Cutter) walk their path and make their decisions throughout this novel,
Cotillion is almost always there to get a reflection on the characters’
thoughts and actions. That relationship
is something that is spread apart and eventually falls apart at the climax, as
both characters make several choices. It’s
almost a toxic romance, minus any romance or abuse, as they are clearly close but
have different aims that draw them apart.
There are several revelations in their plot about Anomander Rake and the
Tiste Andii in some of the novel’s more surreal sections, as there is almost a
dive into the warrens and the magic system of Malazan. Their story ends with Apsalar going down a
darker path, against what should have been something of her own morals. This makes an interesting parallel for
Fiddler, who finds himself in the Malazan army as ‘Strings’, a pseudonym which
is lampshaded several times throughout the book in excellent ways. Strings is in survival mode, and that means
for quite a bit of the book going against his own principles and working with
an enemy, but still working for himself.
The final chapter in particular, for every major character, is something
that Erikson pulls off beautifully. It’s
perhaps the best bits of Malazan Book of the Fallen thus far.
Overall, House of Chains is most definitely a
step down from Memories of Ice.
There are higher highs, but there are lower lows. This is a book that is stuffed full with
character and themes and honestly Erikson has lofty goals. The book is dragged by several scenes and an
uneven pacing which makes the middle of the book incredibly difficult to
bear. It is a book that feels almost like
more setup in places for the next book (or apparently the book after the next
as the next one starts on a third plotline).
The characters are there and there are definitely higher highs, but it’s
only about as good as Deadhouse Gates.
8/10.
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