And now for something completely different! After an entire book (Gardens of the Moon) spent on the continent of Genabackis, Deadhouse Gates opens across the Meningalle Ocean on the continent of Seven Cities.

As with Gardens of the Moon, the reader is introduced to a large cast of characters all living their own stories, until they’re brought together by fate. The gods laugh.

I noted in my earlier read-through of this book that I lost track of the characters and found the warfare narrative to be excessively bleak. While the warfare observation holds true, the closer attention I paid to the novel this time around paid off.

There’s a broader narrative in the Malazan Book of the Fallen series, a narrative that becomes more clear with every seemingly off-hand detail.

Erikson, Steven. Deadhouse Gates. Narrated by Ralph Lister, audiobook ed., unabridged ed., Transworld, 2019. Malazan Book of the Fallen 2.