Deadhouse Gates is the second book in the Tales of the Malazan Book of the Fallen.

Deadhouse Gates, Book 2 in the Malazan Book of the Fallen, is one of my all-time favorite fantasy novels, and is the one that got me totally hooked on the series. The world, the characters, the magic and religions begin to make sense and we become more intimately acquainted with several important characters. As with the other books in this series, Erikson interweaves three main story lines, with a few stray bits here and there. It's easiest to discuss these plot lines separately.

At the end of Gardens of the Moon, the remaining Bridgeburners split up, with Fiddler and Kalam off on a "cover" mission to return Apsalar to her home, though their real aim is to reach the Empress Laseen and, possibly, assassinate her. To reach the Malazan homeland, they choose to travel through another main continent held by the Empire called Seven Cities.

While Seven Cities has been under Malazan rule for a number of years (Kalam, in fact, is a native of Seven Cities), they find on their surreptitious arrival that the entire continent is on the brink of revolt, due to the imminent fulfillment of a religious prophecy in which their prophetess, Sha'ik, will be reborn, initiating the Whirlwind, an apocalypse of rebellion against the Empire and a return of Seven Cities past glory. This plot line follows their adventures in traversing Seven Cities in the midst of violent chaos and introduces yet more very interesting characters.

(By the way, I am trying to avoid spoilers in these summaries, though naturally as the book summaries continue some plot advancements will be unavoidably obvious.)

The second plot line follows Felisin Paran. First, a little background on the Parans (we have mentioned that the Paran family figures prominently in the series). The Parans are a rich, noble family from the heart of Malazan. We have met Ganoes already; as a Malazan army officer, he had found himself attached to the Bridgeburners in Gardens of the Moon, while serving under Adjunct Lorn, and is presently finding himself enmeshed in, hmmm, shall we say, "higher" entanglements.

Tavore Paran, the elder sister, has just been appointed the new Adjunct to the Empress. An Adjunct seems to function as the visible manifestation of the Empress, her right-hand woman, her executive assistant, her chief advisor, and who knows what else. A very, very powerful position. Sadly, no sooner has Tavore achieved this prominence than Laseen decides another purge of the nobility is in order (those pesky nobles often dislike dictatorship).

The Paran patriarch falls in the purge, the mother dies of grief, and Felisin, youngest of the Paran family, is sent off to the slave camps at the otataral mines, on an island in the north of Seven Cities. Felisin is very angry with her sister for not saving her from this fate. Very angry. Very, very angry. This second plot line follows the adventures of Felisin and two of her enslaved companions, Heboric and Baudin, as they reach the mines, and, later, when the Seven Cities uprising reaches them, as they escape and make their way through Seven Cities.

So, we have an entire continent ablaze with rebellion. Huge armies of rebels are forming under variously competent leaders. A new Prophetess is expected to initiate the Whirlwind momentarily. Malazan garrisons are either being slaughtered (if small), retreating into their forts under seige, or off-loading onto any available ships or dinghies and sailing away as quickly as possible.

And the Empress deals with these problems in a very peculiar way. She fortifies the southernmost of the Seven Cities port cities - Aren. She leaves her troops holed up there under the command of a dithering, pampered, cowardly noble who will not make a move. She withdraws her fleet to that port and refuses to allow the Admiral (a great guy) to relieve, or even rescue, stranded troops in the north.

Then she sends the renowned Wickan commander, Coltaine, to the northern port of Hissar to take command. The general consensus is that she fears Coltaine, and his Wickans (the best cavalry in the world, and only recently subservient to the Empire), and is expecting that he and they should perish. Apparently, her plan is to lose Seven Cities with the aim of purging her army of those she fears, and then retaking the continent after the flames of heated rebellion have died down.

Through the eyes of an Imperial Historian named Duiker (charged with accurately recording every move the Empire makes), we follow Coltaine as he takes command, wins the loyalty of the Malazan troops under his command, and then, against all odds, begins a trek of well over 1,000 miles to escort over 50,000 Malazan refugees to safety in Aren - surrounded at all times by several rebel armies many times the size of his seeking total destruction of every man, woman and child, through a desert without water, without supplies, and without any relief or help from the fleet or the other Malazan armies.

You will rage. You will weep. You will cheer. You will have to lay the book aside at times to punch walls or walk around or have a drink. I wept through the last hundred pages nonstop. This is the story of the power of the will of one man, and the will of many common people, determined to take one more step, travel one more day, win one more battle. Their suffering is indescribable (by me; Erikson does a fine job). Their strength and perseverance is amazing. Coltaine's story is the most affecting, to me, of all the Tales of the Fallen I've read so far. I cannot recommend Deadhouse Gates highly enough.

Deadhouse Gates summary by Waverley.

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