Customer Reviews

House of Chains: A Tale of The Malazan Book of the Fallen

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you love fantasy, you'll really like this series. Start from the beginning and work your way to this one if you haven't. Each one builds upon its pedecessor and only gains momentum.

**A book I would also recommend is The Unsuspecting Mage by Brian S. Pratt. This, the first installment of The Morcyth Saga is a great beginning for a new author. Battles, magic, gods, secret passages and intrigue, all the elements of a classic epic fantasy! Any fantasy reader will enjoy it

Fascinating book.
This is simply one of the two best series right now, if not the best. To give you an idea, I received the first four books as a present. and after a difficult and reluctant start of book one, I was gone. In two days of marathon reading, hardly stopping to eat or sleep -to say nothing of bathing - I finished book one, read book 2, 3, and 4. Amazing. high-fantasy as it's best. I'm even a little irritated when people compare it to G.R.R Martin or R.Jordan series. they are good, but the quality here is so much better that it's almost a work of art. If you like fantasy, do yourself a favour and read this series. My only regret is that I had to wait so long, when over there in britain they've been out forever.

awesome. do yourself a favour and get into this series. Erickson will throw you for a loop every time. And he actually seems to be sticking with his publishing deadlines. A massive series filled with horror, brutality, darkness and war but also humour, faith, hope and awe. This is a great 4th book that leaves you dying for the 5th.

A truely engrossing series. However, this can be a very daunting book for those who are not familiar with the earlier titles. The number of characters and plot twists are vast and complex. However, for those of you who enjoy a mature and gritty story of epic proportions - there is no better. Don't go to Erikson's world with expectations of Tolkien. This is a much tougher, dirtier place, with large, but also deeper characters. Enjoy

This book continues the tale where it was left off in the second book and leads us through to the meeting of forces in the holy desert of Raraku. The pace is fast and the characters memorable. Although it can be read as an individual book I would strongly recommend reading the series in the published order:-

1) Gardens of the Moon
2) Deadhouse Gates
3) Memories of Ice
4) House of Chains

The reason (apart from it being one of the best series I have ever read, see the reviews and ratings 4.5-5 stars each!) is that to gain the maximum enjoyment you need to understand the characters which have been built up over the previous 3 books into some of the most memorable I have the pleasure to experience. Fiddler and his love of explosive munitions, which he uses too close to allow his squad to feel comfortable.
A number of new characters that played small rolls in the previous books are brought to the fore as we see the interlacing of stories that helps explain some of the previous unexplained questions from previous books but also raises new ones. The best thing is that the story lines are separate but interlaced in a way that actually closes some of your unanswered questions! Unlike some series.
I am eagerly awaiting the 5th book, that I will undoubtedly buy as soon as it appears

This is a tale of two armies.

In the aftermath of Coltaine's death, the Adjunct Tavore must lead her rag-tag collection of soldiers into Raraku, the holy desert, in hopes of defeating Sha'ik's dreaded Army of the Apocalypse. Her army is uneasy. They are a patched together group of raw recruits, hoary old veterans and the broken survivors of Coltaine's army and they know nothing of the Adjunct, seeing her as untried and aloof.

In the meantime, Sha'ik is beset within her own army. The wily Korbolo Dom and his triumphant Dogslayers are the backbone of her fighting forces, yet they have their own agenda. The High Mages Bidithal and Febryl can't be trusted but they are necessary for Sha'ik's plans. Betrayal seems imminent from all sides. And Sha'ik herself is in turmoil as the Goddess of the Whirlwind and Felisin battle for the soul of the person they both inhabit.

The two armies meet one fateful night and two sisters will clash. Only one will remain standing.

While the two armies prepare for their monumental clash, we travel the journey of discovery with a remarkable warrior named Karsa Orlong. We watch as Lostara Yil, one of the formidable Red Blades, and a Claw named Pearl set out on a task set for them by Adjunct Tavore only to be horrified and saddened by what they discover.

This is the fourth book of the Tale of the Malazan but it picks up the thread of the story that ends in the second book, The Deadhouse Gates.

I had a hard time getting into this book at first because the first 200 pages details the exploits of a seemingly unknown warrior named Karsa Orlong. The events told actually pre-date the events of the first book of the series. As Karsa's story begins to unfold we start to catch up with the current time in the series. And as this first section ends, we realize that we have already met Karsa Orlong in the previous books, only by another name.

As is his M.O. with this series, Erikson starts slow but kicks into stride as the book moves along and we get to "current" events and the imminent clash of the two armies. Felisin, who had become hard and vengeful in book 2 as a result of her feelings of betrayal by her sister and the horrors she experienced as a slave, seems to be trying to find something of the old Felisin as she struggles with the Goddess. Erikson does a wonderful job conveying the suffocating atmosphere of distrust and imminent betrayal in Sha'ik's army while at the same time allows the slow coming together and gelling of Tavore's army. And there are great moments of soldier humor studded throughout the book.

Winding throughout is a bit more deep background of the beginnings of the Malazan Empire with Kellanved. Rope is portrayed as surprisingly human despite the fact that he's a God. And we get to watch (and mourn again) as people learn about the demise of the Bridgeburners.

Even though this is a good book to read, it was somewhat disappointing following the magnificent drama that was the third book, Memories of Ice. But the ending is spectacular (another of Erikson's M.O.s with this series) and once again is heartbreaking and leaves one with the astonished realization that he has managed to turn your assumptions or expectations of a character completely around and in a very realistic way.

Not the very best of the series, but still very good and better than many other books being written in the genre.

Steven Erikson is hardly known here in the states, where he's yet to publish, but his four fantasy novels are unequivocal modern classics. "House of Chains," the newest entry in the long-winded "A Tale of the Malazan Book of the Fallen" series, continues the fascinating saga.

Fans of Jordan and Martin will be wowed by Erikson's epic, sweeping narrative and complex plots. Stephen R. Donaldson is quoted on the back of House of Chains, and for good reason. Comparisons could also be made to Glen Cook's "fantasy-noir" style, and other postmodern fantasy/scifi authors who effectively blur the lines between notions of good and evil.

Erikson's world is endlessly complex, replete with thousands of societies, deep history, vast geographies, and unique magic. There is plenty of humor, a fair amount of gore, and constant action. And an important, unavoidable facet of Erikson's writing style is that he challenges the reader. He doesn't deliver stock characters and cliched, predictable plots on a silver platter.

Start with "Gardens of the Moon," and order from amazon.co.uk if you must. Fingers crossed, Erickson will publish domestically, and all of those weak, poorly written, hackneyed derivative juvenile fantasy books currently choking the shelves of your local bookstore will be swept aside.

Steven Erikson is, without a doubt, my second favourite writer (first being Tolkien), and he sometimes equals and surpasses the Master (and that says a lot, coming from me).

The story is, yet again, solid and intriguing, and many of the questions that were raised in the first three books have been answered (thank god), while we are left with a pile of fresh ones (thank god). Steven Erikson's work is a puzzle: when you start reading, you have no idea what you're reading. It's like you have begun reading the complete History of Earth, and started somewhere in the middle.

Erikson's world is incredibly well developed, and both the mythology/pantheon(which play an active part) and the landscape, feel very real, and give the suggestion of immense depth.

The characters are as we hoped and expected them to be. Solid, funny, and believeable.

As in the second book, the (sub)continent on which most of the action takes place is Seven Cities. That means, a lot of knives, dust, sand and blood.

If you liked parts 1, 2 and 3, you'll definately love House of Chains.

And mr. Erikson, keep it up ;)