Deadhouse Gates

by Steven Erikson

Reviewed by Ruby

Rebellion is stirring in the occupied Seven Cities. Sha’ik and her followers are preparing for the Whirlwind while the Bridgeburners, Fiddler and Kalam, are plotting to assassinate the Empress herself. Felisin plots her own revenge against the sister who left her to die in the mines. Two friends travel the continent for centuries, one desperately seeking his memories and the other praying he never finds them

I really enjoyed this book even though, as I’m thinking about it, I probably shouldn’t have. I hated how every single storyline ended. I knew going in that most of them couldn’t possibly have had a happy ending, but some of them made little to no sense. There were a few interesting twists in the plot, but some of them felt out of place and, even though this is a world filled with tons of incomprehensible magic, didn’t seem to make any sense.

The thing I was most unhappy about was how Felisin was treated by her companions. They belittled and hated her for prostituting herself out trying to help them. I felt bad for her for the first few chapters, until she became a spiteful, whining, crack whore who hated everyone (even people trying to help her) except the guy who was abusing her. Then she lost me.

Overall I am enjoying this series. The sheer size of all of the books is a little daunting when I stare at them together but as long as they keep going the way they are I am excited about reading them. Maybe by the end of them I will finally understand the author’s vision of the world he’s created, because so far I’m not grasping it entirely.

Grade: B