Customer Reviews: Read 12 more reviews...
 witness - well if you say so :) June 27, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
a lot of flak is pointed at house of chains because it focuses on one character for the first section, but what a character! Karsa orlong explodes ontot he page and pushes this book beyond the ordinary into the fantastic. The remainder of the book is no less breathtaking with many story arcs folding into each other as another convergance takes place. This is a most tragic novel and builds to a very unexpected ending.
Erikson remains unlike any other author i have read in the gritty realism of his characters within the world they inhabit. This is not typical fantasy, its soemthing so much more.
Highly recommended.
 below standard May 12, 2008
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
This book is okay, but by no means great. It is far too long and overwritten (as others have commented on), and Karsa seems to be one of those polarising characters, that you either love or hate. I didn't like him at all, and as the first 250 pages of the book are dedicated to him, i almost stopped reading.
Some of the plot devices are also infuriating - *spoiler warning* - how many times can a character be in a dead end, no way out situation, then suddenly a god comes in and saves the day? I groaned out loud a couple of times with this.
One of the most difficult things for a great writer to do is to have each character not only with their own personality traits, but to speak believably and individually. Eriskon suffers here from the same flaw that Tom Clancy and other, otherwise excellant story tellers, does - namely that the characters speak in the same way, with the same pet phrases etc. Very frustrating from a readers pov.
Finally, I just didn't find that this book really drew you into the characters the way his previous books have, so you don't really care about them or what happens to them.
I will read (at some stage, not for a while as I'm not keen to dig back into the Malazan world yet) Midnight Tides, and if hasn't gotten back to the standard of the first novels, I will probably end there.
Anthropolgical slaughter February 7, 2008
"Karsa's sword was a blur as he cut into the archers. Figures turning to run. Dying, spinning away in floods of blood. Skulls shattering. Karsa carved his way down the line, and left a trail of eight figures, some writhing and others still..."
The warrior Karsa Orlong departs his loved ones to do battle astride his horse Havok, accompanied by his dog Gnaw and fellow warriors Bairoth Gild and Delum Thord. The Uryd tribe of the Teblor are giants among men, and their culture has some very particular conventions when it comes to courage and combat and killing. They think nothing of fighting on in spite of numerous wounds, partly because they have the further advantages of an immunity from infection and exceptional powers of bodily healing, ensuring that they usually live to fight again. We would be but children among them, and such children they are fond of slaughtering in great numbers.
There's more to this book than spectacular violence and savagery, of course. The author is an anthropologist, and instils life in his work, creating philosophies and ways of thinking that exist beyond the details on the printed page. And he certainly has a story to tell; this is the fourth in an epic series of ten volumes dubbed 'The Malazan Book of the Fallen'. The first, 'Gardens of the Moon', was Erikson's debut, and was short-listed for a World Fantasy Award. The second, 'Deadhouse Gates', was voted one of the best fantasy novels of the year. I know someone who has read as far as the third and wants to keep going, which can't be bad. [This review was written in December 2002.]
As a part of such a sequence, and at 757 pages, plus three maps, five pages of characters and a five-page glossary, this book appears a daunting prospect. In fact, the plot follows mostly from the events of the first volume, although some years have passed. Mercifully, it can be read in its own right, and soon begins to make some sense even without constant reference to the accompanying documents. No, I haven't had the time to finish it yet, but decided to post a review in time for the official publication (today, 5th December).
Are you a reader of epic fantasies? A follower of war, intrigue and betrayal with a little mythology and magic thrown in, among a cast of characters who really battle and suffer and even die; this is another one for you. You know who you are.
Anthropolgical slaughter February 7, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
"Karsa's sword was a blur as he cut into the archers. Figures turning to run. Dying, spinning away in floods of blood. Skulls shattering. Karsa carved his way down the line, and left a trail of eight figures, some writhing and others still..."
The warrior Karsa Orlong departs his loved ones to do battle astride his horse Havok, accompanied by his dog Gnaw and fellow warriors Bairoth Gild and Delum Thord. The Uryd tribe of the Teblor are giants among men, and their culture has some very particular conventions when it comes to courage and combat and killing. They think nothing of fighting on in spite of numerous wounds, partly because they have the further advantages of an immunity from infection and exceptional powers of bodily healing, ensuring that they usually live to fight again. We would be but children among them, and such children they are fond of slaughtering in great numbers.
There's more to this book than spectacular violence and savagery, of course. The author is an anthropologist, and instils life in his work, creating philosophies and ways of thinking that exist beyond the details on the printed page. And he certainly has a story to tell; this is the fourth in an epic series of ten volumes dubbed 'The Malazan Book of the Fallen'. The first, 'Gardens of the Moon', was Erikson's debut, and was short-listed for a World Fantasy Award. The second, 'Deadhouse Gates', was voted one of the best fantasy novels of the year. I know someone who has read as far as the third and wants to keep going, which can't be bad. [This review was written in December 2002.]
As a part of such a sequence, and at 757 pages, plus three maps, five pages of characters and a five-page glossary, this book appears a daunting prospect. In fact, the plot follows mostly from the events of the first volume, although some years have passed. Mercifully, it can be read in its own right, and soon begins to make some sense even without constant reference to the accompanying documents. No, I haven't had the time to finish it yet, but decided to post a review in time for the official publication (today, 5th December).
Are you a reader of epic fantasies? A follower of war, intrigue and betrayal with a little mythology and magic thrown in, among a cast of characters who really battle and suffer and even die; this is another one for you. You know who you are.
enter the house of chains June 15, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
ok this is more like it, erikson's last journey to the seven cities in deadhouse gates made me wish for a return to genabackis but this is more on erikson's usual level.
it gives more of what everyone wants i think, a good strong character in karsa orlong, and when i say good i don't mean in terms of behaviour as he has great struggles to try and overcome. including an offer from a surprising direction. more information is given on the crippled god and the house that has recently been sanctioned, hence the title of the book, as new members of this house are recruited.
aso treach or trake or whatever his name is gets a new follower and a little more is revealed of him. pair that with the return of two ascendants, in more powerful form and a huge battle building. as well as a return by other individuals ;)
well i hope you all like it i sure as hell did and can't wait to start midnight tides.
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