Zitong Ren's Reviews > Deadhouse Gates

Rereading this was honestly such an awesome experience, like wow. I have all the feels right now for Malazan. It’s been around two years since I first read this and since then, I have had a lot more experience with adult fantasy and rereading it this time, I really was able to understand a lot more of what was going on, but also being able to appreciate it a lot better. Malazan is probably in my top 5 series of all time and I do believe that this series really highlights what fantasy is capable of in the level of worldbuilding and scope. With that being said, it isn’t perfect however I much that I do happen to love it(which is a lot).

One thing that this book gets right is this whole aspect of following these soldiers and getting their perspectives in war, and that it is a brutal and devastating thing. This is a series that largely follows normal people and soldiers who have perhaps found themselves in a position of fame or authority(obviously there are people like Rake and Shadowthrone, so this isn’t always the case). It doesn’t always focus on the tactics and strategy of a particular battle, but rather the soldiers that are living through the moment which I really like.

Another thing that I’m sure anybody has read this series is that the worldbuilding is immense, with several different magic systems, different realms and an entire world to explore whether it is Seven Cities, Genabackis and later on in the series, Letherii. I find that very few series can match it in its scope of its worldbuilding that I have yet read, with some comparable examples being The Wheel of Time, Middle-Earth(LotR, Silmarillion etc) and A Song of Ice and Fire. I’m a huge sucker for good worldbuilding and the world that had been created here manages to just feel so full of everything.

Coltaine’s March is truly epic in how it is written and the way it ends is quite chilling. I managed to really enjoy each and individual POV points and found them all to be interesting in their own right. While I enjoyed some more than others, there wasn’t one I actually disliked reading about or wasn’t in engaged in.

One thing I have found that earlier on in this massive series, is that since there are so many characters, there are a few here and there that I can’t properly connect with or love straight away, which is perfectly understandable as you want them to develop. There are many that really shine straight away, but at the same time, there are also a few that just after rereading this book, that from here, I don’t love immensely yet.

I don’t really have the most to say about this book though it certainly is very interesting to be rereading some of Malazan and to be immersed in this world once again. Also, for some reason, I’m in this huge mood to read Malazan and I don’t know why. 9.8/10