Felisin's story in Deadhouse Gates was fantastic. People complain about it because it's frustrating to read, but the characters aren't frustrating because they are poorly written. They are frustrating because they are written as human beings with all of the flaws and shortcomings that implies. It's brilliant stuff and I wish Erikson got more credit for his amazing character work.
Excellent to hear your thoughts on Deadhouse Gates, Jimmy! I love that you gave some praise (sort of) to Iskaral Pust -- Allen will do his perfect Iskaral Pust imitation while he complains about you praising the mad priest of Shadow. I look forward to unleashing the spoilers!
Great review, Jimmy! I’m so excited you’re loving the series so far! I agree about how atmospheric Seven Cities is and that the characters are fascinating. The battle chaos is definitely noteworthy! Enjoy Memories of Ice!
@@ryanoneal8480 It's definitely had some intense, shocking moments! I'll probably need a few days to fully gather my thoughts, but I'm hoping to have a spoiler-filled review posted next week!
If I understood it correctly, Laseen sent the Claw after Kalam to weed out the weak ones. I think she also did it to send a message to Topper - "You are the leader of the Claw, but don't step out of line. Even shadows have shadows."
Fantastic, comprehensive, intelligent review. Duiker and Felisin are two of my favorite characters in the series, so I’m glad you enjoyed them. Not only are they just well written in the sense of having layered and complex psychology that is explored in depth, they are also very emotionally effective. Looking forward to your future content on Malazan!
I am glad to hear that you enjoyed it. I am greatly looking forward to the Spoiler discussion. There is a lot of 'meat' in this book, and the emotional impact is really powerful, at least it is for me.
Loved the review! I’m with you on Mappo and Icarium, I was always gripped by their scenes in DG. The Chain of Dogs sequence blew me away and ripped my heart out-haven’t read anything like it. Also agree on the prologue of the fly priest of Hood being incredibly creepy and setting that dark tone for the book masterfully. Also agree that reading Malazan has changed how I think about other books-I read the Poppy War trilogy right after finishing MBotF and the writing felt so superficial and amateurish in comparison-I think I would’ve liked it much more if I had read it before Erikson.
Glad you liked the review! I think I'm happy I read a lot of stuff I wanted to read before Malazan because I can feel it changing me as a reader. Not to say other things can't be good or anything like that, but just the approach to information and characterization is changing my views on writing a lot
Great Review Man. As I said in the past, it seems we have a very similar taste in books. Here are some thoughts I wrote when I finished DG a few months ago: Deadhouse Gates" presents two of the darkest, most violent and pessimistic storylines I have ever read (some officially grimdark books would seem like a happy story by comparison): one is about the long march of thousands of refugees, expelled from the occupied cities because of the war, and escorted by a taciturn and brilliant commander, whose path includes numerous battles and the crossing of an entire continent; the other is the most credible and painful representation of the Stockholm Syndrome (and the consequences of abuse) that I have ever read. Between these two main lines there is also an undercover operation, the search for a mystical door and the story of a poignant friendship broken by centuries of dark secrets. All on the against the background of the remains of extinct civilizations, among the pottery shards of fallen empires, and among the ghosts of restless fathers and mothers. The cyclical repetition of violence, the awareness of the past, the illusion of control, the chains that bind individuals for better or for worse, and finally the journey, are the most important themes of this novel, topics on which the author wants stimulate the reader to reflect, to confront. However, he was skilled enough to insert a lot of humor, which is breathtaking between a tragedy, a slaughter and a gutting. In fact, I found Erikson's irony quite brilliant already in the first novel, and therefore I am happy that despite the tone of this work, the humor has not been put aside. There are obviously moments of confusion, given the author's style aimed at an all-encompassing "show don't tell": as in the previous novel, many things are understood and interpreted by the end of the reading, while others remain pending: the feeling is that this series is a huge story divided into ten novels, so I look forward to see evolve what remains unanswered in this novel. Not an easy book (as I suppose the whole series), halfway between genre and literature: focused on themes, written with artistic criteria sometimes far from ease of use, but with enormous space given to world building and action.
This was a good review, I enjoyed watching your thoughts. The Felisin crew was my favorite group to read, and I was at first amongst the "I can't stand this little b*@%$" crowd, but I've since changed my opinion as I read further and watched other discussions. Basically, it was how angry she was and spiteful she was towards Baudin and Heboric that rubbed me the wrong way, but I get it. After all she went thru, especially having been a young little privileged girl beforehand... it was nice to see her rise up
I know I'm almost a half year late but I think the claws being after Kalam isn't on Laseen's orders. The Claw are basically you're in yoi can't leave kinda mafia-esque so him leaving isn't taken lightly and therefore their assassin honor dictates they (at least try to) kill him. Even Topper the Claw's boss you could say says he can't stop them from huntung him tho he also says Kalam will basically deal with those not good enough and indirectly strengthen the Claw by killing its weak members
Ngl I felt bad, then hated Felisin but after Baudin and Kulp died she got her humanity back imo and then her merging with Sha'ik or sth cuz she clearly changed and got also Sha'ik's memories and that's where I think maybe I'll like her maybe not but she's definetly gotten a lot more interesting
Deadhouse gates was good but didn’t enjoy it as much as GOTM. I also found it more difficult to read than GOTM. I’m currently on chapter 1 of MOI and really loving it so far.
Thanks to your advice I did start GotM and binged it in 4 days, although I have to admit I think it was a bit dumb to read such a dense book so quickly. Can't wait to start Deadhouse Gates sometime soon as well! Did you read other books at the same time as Malazan? I feel like binging GotM was the only thing from keeping me from forgetting all these names, and I feel like I would be even more confused if I had another book with a bunch of names to keep up with.
Regarding Felisin.... People always say I had no choice, well you do it's just some times all the choices you have are shitty or horrible. I think she gets too much hate, just for trying to survive.
Spoilers. About Kalam in deadhouse gates It's been about 3 years since I read this book but laseen doesn't control the claw now topper is clawmaster. But Kalam was a former claw and the claw don't let you leave unless you die they just haven't been able to do it yet because Kalam is too good, and then when Kalam leaves after he figures out laseen isn't there laseen tells topper (I found the passage in the book) "Now if you would kindly call off your hunters " we have been over this you know that is impossible" I would not lose him topper" and then topper replies " I said I cannot call off my hunters Empress, do you take that to mean that you actually expect them to succeed? Hoods breath, Dancer himself would have hesitated before taking on Kalam Mekhar. No, better to view this disastrous night as a long overdue winnowing of the brotherhood's weaker elements..." Even the clawmaster can't deter the claw from taking out someone that left their ranks it is just what they do. The clawmaster is head of the claw but you don't leave the brotherhood and even the clawmaster can't call off the "coming retribution"
good distinction! I see your point, I will say though Laseen actually talks about how she sent the claw, but I believe they may have been coming for him anyways
@@thefantasynuttwork ahh I may be wrong it's been a couple of years and I only read that 3 passage paragraphs part I quoted. But I'm glad you enjor the series Malazan and Dresden files are my 2 favorites
@@thefantasynuttwork well I know the claw kill deserters but laseen could've sent the first wave to test him, and Dresden is amazing! Just finished battleground which is the last book out and am now on ship of magic
I don't know if you respond to comments on older videos, but did you ever have the deep dive spoiler discussions for books 2 and 3? I don't see them in your playlist. I have watched the discussions for books 1 & 4 and really enjoyed them. I'm currently reading book 5 and look forward to watching that discussion when I finish.
Hello, thanks for commenting! I actually didn't do the discussions for Moi or DG, but my MOI video has spoilers in it if you wanna check that out. Sorry about that!
@@thefantasynuttwork No problem. Thanks! I see that you do have longer discussions on books 5 through 10, so I'm sure I will enjoy those when I get there.
I found it interesting how at the start, I couldn't care less about Duiker's storyline. 'Who are these people? There's nothing really magical going on here.' But by the end, it's the heaviest emotional punch. I still need to read on to the next book.
SPOILER about the end of Deadhouse Gates: Laseen didn't send the claw after Kalam, bacause like Topper said, the Claw is kinda independent, and they have the right to deal with those who leave the organization
I knew they were independent but I had thought for sure I read a line in where she claims to have sent them. However, I believe whether or not she did is irrelevant because regardless of orders they would have went after him. I think this makes my point null that I made in the video, however I still didn't love that piece of story
@@thefantasynuttwork got It! Anyway, great video! I look foward to watch your reviews on the upcoming books. For me, the series gets really awesome in Memories of Ice
Love the review! 😀🤘🏻 I finished my re-read a week or two ago, and knowing what I know, I really had a far different experience than the 1st time around. Felisin is maybe the hugest invitation to reader compassion in the entire series. She is unquestionably mean, spiteful, and the last person I’d want to hang with, but with an open heart it’s very hard to not understand why she is what’s she is, and not want to help her in some way. So fun to see someone get hooked on Malazan for the first time, and it’s made me impatient to get my DG review up! 🙂
I'm on Chapter 3 of Deadhouse and I thought that Prologue was so Dope!!! The Chain Gang Scene and the priest of flies just hooked me immediately. Excellent review Sir.
Loving seeing you enjoy both GOTM and now DHG. To give you something to look forward to, GOTM is generally in the bottom half, and DHG middle of the pack in terms of how people rank the books. You have some fantastic stuff coming soon. And if you want something fun, I made a spoiler free one sentence review of Memories of Ice that is good both before and after reading. :D ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-TFctR_vKFk4.html
Totally with you about the combat scenes. Those are the parts that SHOULDN'T be confusing. Oh well. Looking forward to your MoI discussion as you catch up to me.
This book was intense. I just finished it. And...oof. it was brutal and exhausting in the best ways. I loved the exploration of the theme of cycle and futility and...yeah. So good. I'm looking forward to Memories of Ice!
Hi thank you for the review, I still need to read this book but I’m bit nervous 😟 because garden of the moon was confusing but amazingly written... I hope I will like deadhouse gate???? Happy reading to You!! 📖📚🎬
I’m really glad you liked Felisin. People are quick to point at her. I’m not saying she isn’t deserving of some it but blaming her for everything is just bs
SPOILERS FOR DG Man, I still think about the Fall of Coltaine to this day. That event has been burned into my memory. One of the highest emotionally resonant moments in all of literature for me.
Todd here. Years ago, when I first started getting into reading fantasy seriously, I would go to my local Barnes & Noble and browse through they fantasy section and Gardens of the Moon was always on the shelf. The series is always one that is reccomended to people who love fantasy. I want to read a story about a fast fantasy world with tons of different characters. I read the first three books in the Malazan series, and I'm not going to lie, I had no idea what was going on. There were times when I could not tell which character was talking and didn't know were they were on the map. Here I am a year later wanting to give it another try possibly
I'm so glad there are booktubers behind where I'm at in this series so that I can watch their videos for a refresher :) I loved Deadhouse Gates but it gets even better so you are in for a treat.
@@thefantasynuttwork Booktubers like yourself are the reason why I jumped into the Malazan deep end without much research into it. I'm starting the 6th book of the Book of the Fallen and love it. I'm dislexic and hated reading in school as a result but in almost every spare hour I find myself reading this series which would be bonkers to younger me :)
Lol I just asked that in one of Dr Chase's videos like 1 minute ago :) My plans are to finish the main 10 book series then move to Ian's Novels of the Malazan Emipre, then after words your guess is as good as mine. The cool thing about their work on this world is that they complement each other and believe it or not, but Ian is very picky about story lines according to Steven so which is the "true history".... probably Ian's work but at the same time both are historians and they probably giggle about how fans find little discrepancies and wonder if those same readers know how history is written :) Oh ya, I subbed this channel since I know it's right up my ally! I look forward to the rest of your reviews of the series. You are hitting one of the fan's favorites, it wasn't mind (at least so far) but I liked it a lot never the less. I just finished Midnight Tides (5th book) and really like what the 4th and 5th books had to offer and I'm told the 6th might become my favorite. So if you liked what you read up until now, buckle up buddy, it's gonna get even better :)
Don't understand the hate for Felisin tbh. Kalam is up there as one of my favourite characters in the series, alongside Fiddler, Duiker, Felisin, T'ool and Quick Ben. I've other favourites but you meet them later. I'm on Book 6 The Bonehunters right now and each book keeps getting better and better
Yea, Felisin is a teen girl who has some of the worst things imaginable happen to her, but some readers don't like her because she gets an attitude about it? My daughter gets an attitude when she has to do some chores, it's probably pretty realistic. Why are we expecting this teenager to be completely mature about her situation? Steven Erickson has published some pretty good essays about Felisin on his Facebook page for anyone that wants to dig into the topic more...that and some of the best dad joke memes on the internet.
Btw, I don't know if you are fond of heavy music (extreme metal, to be more precise), but there's a band called Caladan Brood which has a Malazan-themed album, Echoes Of Battle, if you are interested. :)
@@thefantasynuttwork I don’t know man but if it’s cool battle sequences I am in I just finished dead house gates If the entire series is like chain of dogs it’s boring But if it’s epic battle sequences like lord of the rings I am totally down Which one do you think it is !?
@@thefantasynuttwork alright None the less I kinda like this series I think I might just end up reading the whole thing It’s something about first two books I wasn’t able to put them down Not many books have had that effect on me A few sequences were breathtaking in both But cheers and thank you for the reply my man
Deadhouse gates is my favorite book in the series and my favorite character in the series so far is felisin i totally get why some people have a hard time when it comes to her but i do