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#5 Platform - Deadhouse Gates
Jan. 12th, 2008 03:19 amA real epic fantasy book with lots of tactics? That's something to behold.
Book #1: Deadhouse Gates
Author: Steven Erikson
Provenance: Bookmooch
I picked up this book after reading![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
grysar's gift, the first book in this series, last year, and I liked it well enough. It had enough going for it that I tracked down the second one, too. Now that, that was a good idea.
Deadhouse Gates is a sequel closer to the Diana Wynne Jones style sequel than the George R. R. Martin style one, since you probably can get away with not reading the previous book in the series and still get most of the quality. You'd miss some character points and a couple of connections, but not that much, all around. It's set on a different continent from the previous book, with a largely different set of characters, and a largely unrelated plot setup.
The setup is basically the same, though: multi-POV, most of them low-ranking players, and it takes you through the course of a military campaign: one army taking a huge train of refugees through a large amount of hostile territory to try to deliver them to the one remaining safe haven. There are also other plot lines, dealing with journeys of redemption, assassination and discovery.
There's a lot to keep track of, but it's not confusing. The descriptions are lucid, if horrifying sometimes, the characters fleshed-out and lively, the scale sweeping and epic, and the plotting very well done, although it's a bit of a slog as everything gets set up; with all the POVs and plotlines, getting all the pieces on the board takes a while, and it's not great until they're all out there. The battles and tactics are well-handled and not monotonous: it's not the same thing twice, and it's all fairly realistic (allowing for the magic of the world, but it's well delineated how that works).
The first one felt like he was reaching at points, and that there was a bit of Dragon Ball Z syndrome (he's INCREDIBLY POWERFUL... but not as powerful as... THIS GUY HERE!). The latter is around only once or twice here, but the first is gone completely. Erikson feels in control of his prose and plotting, and the result is a brilliant epic story. I was going to ding it for what feels like workmanlike prose in places, but then towards the end, Erikson really brings something out emotionally; it made me cry, it was so good. I think much of it, because it's supposed to be a history, can come off a bit dry, but it's still the good kind of history.
All told: very well done, indeed. If only all the books I read this year are this good, I'll be a very happy man.
Next up: either Ice in His Veins or The Skull Beneath the Skin. Some sort of mystery, anyway.
Book #1: Deadhouse Gates
Author: Steven Erikson
Provenance: Bookmooch
I picked up this book after reading
grysar's gift, the first book in this series, last year, and I liked it well enough. It had enough going for it that I tracked down the second one, too. Now that, that was a good idea.Deadhouse Gates is a sequel closer to the Diana Wynne Jones style sequel than the George R. R. Martin style one, since you probably can get away with not reading the previous book in the series and still get most of the quality. You'd miss some character points and a couple of connections, but not that much, all around. It's set on a different continent from the previous book, with a largely different set of characters, and a largely unrelated plot setup.
The setup is basically the same, though: multi-POV, most of them low-ranking players, and it takes you through the course of a military campaign: one army taking a huge train of refugees through a large amount of hostile territory to try to deliver them to the one remaining safe haven. There are also other plot lines, dealing with journeys of redemption, assassination and discovery.
There's a lot to keep track of, but it's not confusing. The descriptions are lucid, if horrifying sometimes, the characters fleshed-out and lively, the scale sweeping and epic, and the plotting very well done, although it's a bit of a slog as everything gets set up; with all the POVs and plotlines, getting all the pieces on the board takes a while, and it's not great until they're all out there. The battles and tactics are well-handled and not monotonous: it's not the same thing twice, and it's all fairly realistic (allowing for the magic of the world, but it's well delineated how that works).
The first one felt like he was reaching at points, and that there was a bit of Dragon Ball Z syndrome (he's INCREDIBLY POWERFUL... but not as powerful as... THIS GUY HERE!). The latter is around only once or twice here, but the first is gone completely. Erikson feels in control of his prose and plotting, and the result is a brilliant epic story. I was going to ding it for what feels like workmanlike prose in places, but then towards the end, Erikson really brings something out emotionally; it made me cry, it was so good. I think much of it, because it's supposed to be a history, can come off a bit dry, but it's still the good kind of history.
All told: very well done, indeed. If only all the books I read this year are this good, I'll be a very happy man.
Next up: either Ice in His Veins or The Skull Beneath the Skin. Some sort of mystery, anyway.
