#deadhouse

[k-i-l-l-e-r-b-e-e-6-9]

𝔎𝔞𝔱𝔞𝔱𝔬𝔫𝔦𝔞 - 𝔇𝔢𝔞𝔡𝔥𝔬𝔲𝔰𝔢

[ezra-loomis]

I remember having this dream

so like, when I was sleeping, I had a dream where I entered a Dead House, I just saw dead people laying and hanging themselves, I saw like so many blood, I even saw cockroaches, spiders, sneks. (sneks are cute fr but one got into a man's pussy. I blushed at that, it made him cu-)

I checked every room and they are all dead, even tho i heard a song called "In the Year 2525" (man that song grooves.)

that song just came out of nowhere, but I know that song comes out in Gentleman Broncos. (my fav movie from Jared Hess i think thats the director.)

Suddenly, the song replayed, it never stopped, then I saw a shadowy figure that came out of nowhere, it was the owner of the Dead House. the shadow seemed kind to me.

AND YOU WON'T BELIEVE OR BELIEVE THIS, THE SHADOW DID A FUCKING GRIDDY ON ME.

I got to get the Shadow away from me lol.

also when I checked the toilet, a human head was in there, IT WAS RADITHA (that oc i made.)

bleugh- the story never ended whenever I sleep or daydream.

But that's my dream.

bye wieners :3

one of my fav drawings. I need the original imag-

[boooklover]

“The lesson of history is that no one learns.”

Steven Erikson, Deadhouse Gates

[eminjbrylv]

[jellisdraws]

"Children are dying."

Lull nodded. "That's a succinct summary of humankind, I'd say. Who needs tomes and volumes of history? Children are dying. The injustices of the world hide in those three words[…]”

-Steven Erickson, Deadhouse Gates

[ae-neon]

Watching Steven Erikson murder my favourite characters two books in a row

Guess that's why it's called Book of the Fallen

[fallowhearth]

Rereading Malazan Book of the Fallen for probably the fifth time...

"This city was dead long before the sea dried up," Fiddler said, resuming his climb.

Crokus called up after him, "How do you know?"

"Because everything's water-worn, lad. Waves crumbled this sea wall. Century after century of waves. I grew up in a port city, remember. I've seen what water can do. The Emperor had Malaz Bay dredged before the Imperial piers were built-revealed old sea walls and the like." Reaching the top, he paused to catch his breath. "Showed everyone that Malaz City's older than anybody'd realized."

"And that the sea levels have risen since," Mappo observed.

Fascinating to see how a major plot-point of Witness (the new series) was being casually built up as early as book 2 of MBotF - the melting of the Jaghut ice. And perfect of course, that it is Mappo who brings it up: of the group, he's the only one who would have been in a position to know this.

One thing I truly love about this series is the extent to which the world feels lived in. People have lived in the lands for hundreds of thousands of years, and not as static occupiers, but have endured climate change, environmental collapse, invasions, migrations, cultural movements, and political upheavals. Nobody does longue durée quite like Steven Erickson.

He's also an author who cares about subsistence strategies and the way geography shapes human patterns. The major cities emerge in places where water transport and farmland intersect. Plains nomads have pastoral animals apart from horses, plus working dogs, women play key roles in subsistence, and they have distinct material culture in dress and decoration. (As opposed to certain other authors, cf. Bret Devereaux's Dothraki write up). Environmental changes and human movement force new strategies; pretty much every group in the Malazan world is in some kind of flux or process of change outside of the actual plot, and have diverse responses to these pressures in terms of culture and values.

For all that these books can be very dense, I also appreciate Erikson's loving indulgence toward the reader. Yes, it would be funny if a small spoilt lapdog joined a pack of war dogs: so we will have a series of vignettes describing this in the background of real events. Yes, it is very funny to picture a bunch of capering monkeys mocking the High Priest of Shadow and his broom nonsense, so we will get a series of slapstick set pieces again in the background. Characters like Kruppe and Iskaral Pust get to chew the scenery, etc.

[smokingchagga]

Oh look, another Felisin moment that breaks my heart. Can someone just finally get this girl into a safe environment with people who actually understand and appreciate her? It annoys me (in a good way) when Heboric & the others are fed up with her bitchiness. Like goddamn. How else is she supposed to cope? Watching the adults around her repeatedly fail to understand her is gut wrenching.

Watching Felisin struggle to cope with her trauma hits a little too close to home tbh. There's just something very relatable about how she resorts to making herself cold&rude so that she can't be harmed.

I support women's rights but I also support women's wrongs and Felisin can be a bitch all she wants and I will be there to defend her.

[justyouraverage-god]

All that we were has led us to where we are, but tells us little of where we’re going. Memories are a weight you can never shrug off.

Deadhouse Gates (2000) by Steven Erikson

[litcityblues]

'Deadhouse Gates' --A Review

Okay, I'm two books into Malazan and will have to take a breather. Not because I don't want to read more of the series-- I do, it's just that these books are a lot. Two books and they've both been incredibly dense. The climaxes of both books have been shatteringly good. But they're also so good that you have to put them down and walk away once you're done with them just to catch your breath a bit. It's an entirely different beast from Sanderson or Robert Jordan-- if you're reading Stormlight, you know what to expect. (Many, many, many pages until the Sanderlanche begins. Plus Kaladin is inevitably being put through the wringer somehow.) If you're reading Robert Jordan, you know it's going to be a lot, (see, 'The Slog' a.k.a. Volumes 7-10) but Malazan is just different. I've never had a fantasy series that just sticks in my craw the way these have so far.

So, Deadhouse Gates:

I already knew coming in that this one wasn't going to be a direct sequel to Gardens of the Moon-- so introducing still more characters and an entirely new setting wasn't nearly as jarring as I found it to be in the previous book. Instead, we get interesting new characters right off the bat: Felisin Paran, the youngest sister of Ganoes Paran (now an outlaw with Dujek and the other Bridgeburners after the events of the previous books) who is caught up in a cull of the nobility ordered by the Empress Laseen and carried out by her other sister, the new Adjunct Tavore Paran. She makes friends with two fellow prisoners- Heboric, a behanded and disgraced High Priest of the God Fener and Baudin, a thug. They're sent to an otataral mine where Felisin offers her body to the self-appointed leader of the slaves, Beneth to keep them safe.

In the deserts of Raraku, Icarium, a half-Jaghut whose past has been wiped from his memory for the safety of the world, travels in the company of Mappo- a Trell warrior who knows the truth about Icarium and why his memories were taken. They make their way through a battle between shapeshifters of Soletaken and D'ivers to try and follow the Path of Hands to Tremorlor, an Azath House deep in the desert that might offer Ascendancy and even godhood. Escaping the battle, they find shelter with Iskaral Pust, a high priest of the Shadow who is insane (probably).

As rebellion flares across the Seven Cities, the Wickan Warleader Coltaine takes command of the Malazan 7th Army and when the High Fist Pormqual refuses to evacuate them by sea, staying in the capitol city of Aren, hundreds of leagues away, Coltaine makes the decision to evacuate overland. The Imperial Historian Duiker meets up with them and accompanies them.

Our only characters from the previous book, Fiddler, Kalam, Crokus, and Apsalar (formerly Sorry) land in one of the Seven Cities. Their original notion was to return Apsalar to her home village, but Kalam and Fiddler have a new plan: to kill the Empress. Eventually, Kalam leaves the group to take a mission deep into the desert to deliver the Holy Book to the resistance leader, Sha'ik. It's believed that once the book is opened, an apocalyptic Whirlwind will begin, announcing the start of the rebellion. As the others make their way through Raraku, Apsalar's recovered memories gradually reveal that Rope, the patron god of assassins who possessed her in the previous book was the previous Emperor's Assassin, Dancer- leading them to believe that both the old Emperor Kellenvad and Dancer escaped Laseen's assassination efforts by ascending to godhood.

The separate journeys of all these characters gradually begin to intertwine. Felisin, Heboric and Baudin escape (with some assistance from Duiker) from the mine and make their way back to the mainland-- Baudin dying in the process-- but not before revealing that he's an assassin sent by Felisin's sister to protect her. Heboric acquires more powers and unseen, magic hands and they arrive in deep in Raraku where Felisin, bent on revenge, agrees to open the Holy Book and become Sha'ik reborn, leader of the Rebellion against the Malazan Empire-- she reaches an accommodation with the Goddess to not fully be subsumed and adopts an orphan child whom she names Felisin.

Coltaine is successful in his trek across the continent-- the trip soon passes into legend as The Chain of Dogs and the High Fist refuse to save the remnants of the 7th Army who die in sight of the city of Aren, Coltaine amongst them. The High Fist is betrayed and eventually, all ten thousand soldiers are crucified along the Aren Way-- including Duiker, who is rescued and (seems to be) bound for a resurrection of some kind.

Mappo, Trell, Fiddler, Crokus, and Apsalar- along with Iskaral Pust and- as it turns out, Apsalar's father, join forces to enter Tremolor with the idea of using the Deadhouse to travel to the Deadhouse in Malaz City to unite with Kalam to complete their mission of killing the Empress only to find that Dujek's betrayal might have been planned and is seemingly false- a ploy to gain more allies to deal with a greater threat. The group eventually separates: Apsalar, Crokus and her father ask to go home. Kalam finds himself in a relationship (a situationship?) and living in the Shadow Warren with his demon guardian and 1300 crucified children he's been assigned to take care of. Fiddler, surprising everyone-- including himself, re-enlists.

Felisin/Sha'ik reborn approaches Aren with Heboric and her armies, only to find that the city has not been taken. Seeing that, she orders a retreat deeper into the desert to await the arrival of her sister Tavore, and her army.

Overall: Like I said, these books are a lot- but in a good way. Duiker's plot line and the Chain of Dogs becomes instantly epic to me. Put it right up there with Dumai's Wells from The Wheel of Time or Lake Town from The Hobbit-- Coltaine's last stand in front of the city? Just brutal. Just amazing writing- especially the arc of Coltaine over the course of the march. He starts out as a mercenary/outsider type but by the end, when he's offered help by Dujek, he stays loyal to the Malazan Empire and turns into a symbol of the immense achievement of the trek- even if it doesn't end well for him.

Speaking of which: I need more pieces of this puzzle filled in, because Dujek's betrayal was false? To face a greater threat? Is Malazan bad? I'm confused--- I don't know how to feel about this, but I expect more of the series will help clarify what the heck is going on.

While it's not a direct sequel to Gardens of the Moon (there's apparently a lot of overlap with Memories of Ice- the next volume in the series) I love the connective tissue between the two. We see more of Paran's sisters and the conflict between Felisin and Tavore is going to be delicious to watch, even if it inevitably sends whole armies to their deaths. I loved the redemption arc for Heboric and Felisin-- though how much of a 'redemption' arc it actually is has yet to be determined.

If there is one bone I have to pick with this novel it might be the fact that Apsalar ever so conveniently is reunited with her father apropos of pretty much nothing (apparently he was saved from the Shadowhound attack and brought to the temple in the desert via warren?)

This volume was nowhere near as hard to crack as the first volume and it wasn't as jarring either when the plot shifted from one group of characters to the next. This series is dense. It's involved. It's epic in every sense of the word and it can be a bit intimidating, but I'm all in. You should be too. My Grade: **** out of ****

[lovequotesandcoffee]

The lesson of history is that no one learns.

Steven Erikson, Deadhouse Gates.

[bardic-desperation]

Reading Malazan : Book of the Fallen is so frustrating because on the one hand I'm like:

"Such dense worldbuilding! An intriguing magic system, and an immense cast of characters with complex histories, values, and priorities! Heartbreaking fates, and bittersweet tales!"

And on the other hand I'm like:

"...I am two books in and I have no idea what's going on. Is anybody going to explain me how anything works, and what motivates the characters, so I might get a sense of scale, stakes, and emotional investment? Did that person matter? Did that word matter? It probably did, though it is meaningless to me now and I already forgot it. Oh no, that's not a Tiste Andii but a T'lan Imass? Oh that person's name is Mallick Rel, not to be confused with Rallick Nom?? What's a Jagoff Tyrant, and why should I care about his Unctuous Phallus Warren?!?? Fuck you."

I'm hooked.

[eminjbrylv]

Coltaine onların sonuncusuydu...

[boooklover]

“My evening star. If the sun burned out tomorrow, your flame would light the world.”

Steven Erikson, Deadhouse Gates

[ae-neon]

Okay but Lorn is almost definitely being paralleled to Paran and Sorry, right? Like she's not possessed in the Cotillion way or overtly being used against her will in the Oponn way but something in-between

Laseen has either groomed her or is magically influencing her but it's definitely something

Like she has these moments where it seems like an inner struggle around her identity but there're also moments when it seems like something exerts itself OVER her

With the Coin in her hands, the Empress would bring Oponn to its knees.

Like a drowning voice, deep within her mind, came a question heavy with dismay and despair: What of your doubts? What of the woman who'd once challenged Tayschrenn, in Pale? Has so much changed? Has so much been destroyed?

The Adjunct shook her head, dispelling the plaintive cries. She was the arm of the Empress. The woman called Lorn was dead, had been dead for years, and would remain forever dead.

And now the Adjunct moved through these hollow shadows, in a city cowering in fear.

The Adjunct was a weapon. Its edge could bite deep, or it could snap, break. She might once have called the latter 'death'. Now, it was no more than the misfortune of war, a flaw in the weapon's design.

Like??

And when I think of how the end of DG definitely hints at Laseen being able to use magic, especially as manipulation...

Edit. Definitely not magic since otataral, duh, sorry. But also definitely groomed and indoctrinated to a scary extent