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    House of Chains
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    House of Chains
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    House of Chains
    Audiobook35 hours

    House of Chains

    Written by Steven Erikson

    Narrated by Michael Page

    4.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    House of Chains

    A Tale of the Malazan Book of the Fallen

    In Northern Genabackis, a raiding party of savage tribal warriors descends from the mountains into the southern flatlands. Their intention is to wreak havoc amongst the despised lowlanders, but for the one named Karsa Orlong, it marks the beginning of what will prove to be an extraordinary destiny.

    Some years later, it is the aftermath of the Chain of Dogs. Tavore, the Adjunct to the Empress, has arrived in the last remaining Malazan stronghold of Seven Cities. New to command, she must hone twelve thousand soldiers, mostly raw recruits but for a handful of veterans of Coltaine's legendary march, into a force capable of challenging the massed hordes of Sha'ik's Whirlwind, who lie in wait in the heart of the Holy Desert.

    But waiting is never easy. The seer's warlords are locked into a power struggle that threatens the very soul of the rebellion, while Sha'ik herself suffers, haunted by the knowledge of her nemesis: her own sister, Tavore.

    And so begins this awesome chapter in Steven Erikson's acclaimed Malazan Book of the Fallen….

    "This masterwork of imagination may be the high watermark of epic fantasy. This marathon of ambition has a depth and breadth and sense of vast reaches of inimical time unlike anything else available today. The Black Company, Zelazny's Amber, Vance's Dying Earth, and other mighty drumbeats are but foreshadowings of this dark dragon's hoard." -Glen Cook

    "This novel and all others in the Malazan Book of the Fallen series follow my own pronunciations of 'Malazan' words and names. My thanks to Michael and Jane and everyone at Brilliance Audio." -Steven Erikson, Victoria, B.C. Canada, January, 2014

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBrilliance Audio
    Release dateDec 3, 2013
    ISBN9781469225746
    Unavailable
    House of Chains
    Author

    Steven Erikson

    STEVEN ERIKSON is an archaeologist and anthropologist and a graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop. His Malazan Book of the Fallen series has met widespread international acclaim and established him as a major voice in the world of fantasy fiction. The first book in the series, Gardens of the Moon, was shortlisted for a World Fantasy Award. The second novel, Deadhouse Gates, was voted one of the ten best fantasy novels of the year by SF Site. He lives in Canada.

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    Reviews for House of Chains

    4.5/5

    814 ratings22 reviews

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    • 3/5
      This book was pretty good but very slow at times. It feels like this one is a setup for the rest of the series rather than its own story inside a larger one, which I'm sure is what contributed to that. Also, I cannot stand Karsa Orlong. He does get a little better by the end of book, but he's way too full of himself. Plus, he seems to be an invincible character, winning any fight and surviving any injury no matter what. For me, it was off-putting.

      I will continue to read the series, because the parts that are good are really good, and you can feel it all leading to something monumentally epic, which I can't wait for. Plus, I love Kalam and Quick Ben.
    • 5/5
      This book was epic. Karsa Orlong is one of my favorite characters in any story ever.
    • 5/5
      The series gets better with each book. This book takes place right after the Deadhouse Gates and mentions the events occurring in Memories of Ice. Many new characters added, but each more interesting then the last. The story itself is fantastic and more streamlined, like how Memories of Ice is. Well written, captivating, and really picks up in the end makes this a great book.
    • 5/5
      narration is great, and besides this book tells us the story of the greatest barbarian to ever rage. house of chains will always be my fav only rivaled by the bonehunters book
    • 5/5
      Beings of great power Old and New, unleashing their power. Revelations and introductions. Loved it!
    • 5/5
      Karsa Orlong and a cast of hundreds others create a most memorable world.
    • 4/5
      Great world building as always. Another win from one of my favourite authors
    • 5/5
      Comedy or fantasy I can't decide but awesome ! !
      When they change narrators on the audio books though its so annoying when you are 4 books in and all of a sudden things are called by different sounding names characters have different names books awesome but production sucks on audio if you've listened to the first few how about the narrator should listen and try to keep things similar

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      Oh, Erikson, why do you have to make this so hard for me?

      Again, this is no 5 star book for me, but again, I feel bad giving it "just" 4 stars. There are so many mysteries resolved and you are learning a lot about the history of the world, and so many new mysteries are created. I am looking forward to the next book, as usual.

      But, with this book, I somehow got the feeling that it was kind of a "filler", as in "Let's give them some things to think about in this book", while no really "epic" things happen. There is no chain of dogs, no siege, and even though the end was quite interesting, it lacked the drama of Deadhouse Gates, the tension of Memories of Ice.

      What's left is a good book that explains more about the world, and the feeling that the next book might be a bit more epic.

      I still recommend the series to every fantasy reader with a bit of patience.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 3/5
      House of Chains doesn't quite hold up to its immediate predecessors, although it's certainly a worthy entry. There are many new characters, and some (Karsa Orlong in particular, although all of the T'lan Imass we meet, the Tiste Liosan, and pretty much everyone involved with the Whirlwind) range from mildly to violently unlikeable. It's clearly on purpose, but it means that the majority of the story has much less emotional weight than the last two volumes.

      A few words about Karsa Orlong and the issues he brings to the fore: I respect Erikson's boldness in beginning the book with a couple hundred pages from the perspective of an arrogant, violent, willfully ignorant barbarian who takes great pleasure in slaughtering his enemies and raping women. He also manages to bring the character through to a place where he's honorable and even somewhat likeable. I do not love that fact that this solidifies the pattern of rape as shock effect and/or plot device throughout the series - even when it's handled with some nuance. And it's not always handled with nuance, although the worst episode comes in a later book. It too often reads as voyeurism or, worse, wish-fulfillment, and it leaves a bad taste in my mouth that increases as the series goes on. It's the reason The Crippled God has been out for six months and in my possession for four and I've just now gotten around to a reread. I would like to come through this reread with the opinion that the series transcends its vices. I'm terribly afraid I won't.
    • 5/5
      had been told that he loved to leave little hints about the future, bits of foreshadowing and what not, all over the place but I didn't really appreciate that until this book because this was the first time those connections were actually being made.

      While Erikson still doesn't do much in terms of direct descriptions of people or places he does manage to subtly give you a lot of details on various characters and nations. In fact, I could easily see myself reading books that just focused on certain groups such as the tribes of the Toblaki or the Moranth. He has hinted at so much about these people that it would be cool to really dig into their cultures and histories.

      At the moment I have my hands full just reading what he is writing. It isn't hard reading but I'm way behind in the series and have to catch up. Plus I really want to know what happens with Karsa and how his early actions in this novel will effect later episodes in the epic about Gods and the Malazan Empire.
    • 5/5
      If you have not read book 2, there will be spoilers. Consider yourself warned.House of Chains is the fourth volume of Erikson's epic Malazan Empire series. This book is the sequel to Deadhouse Gates. The story starts us on the Genabackis continent where we are introduced to a new character and given some of his history. From there the story quickly brings us back to the Seven Cities continent. The Chain of Dogs has ended. Coltain is dead. The entire 7th army has been lost. Their story has become legendary, even in the hearts of their enemies. The Adjunct has arrived in the city of Aren and is organizing what's left of her army to march against the Whirlwind Apocalypse and reassert the Empire's claim on the continent. Not an easy task for a seasoned leader, never mind that the Adjunct is untested and her army consists of many green recruits. In regular Erikson style there are also a good dozen or so side threads weaved throughout the main narrative.The concept of chains, both physical and metaphor, suggested in book 1, became more pronounced in books 2 and 3, is front and center in book 4. In that respect many things we've seen previously are starting to come together though there is still plenty left for future books. There are many surprises along the way to keep the reader wanting more.The story tops out at just over 1000 pages and it is worth every page.
    • 5/5
      HoC opens with something entirely unexpected: more than 200 pages following a single character whose story begins in Genabackis. Karsa Orlong is a Conan-like barbarian with extra streaks of mean - not a likeable guy. At least he's surrounded by the author's hints of lessons to come for this character, and there's an undercurrent of humour to his kind of single-mindedness ("I can't wait for the day they put a pickaxe in your hands," another character observes.) The focus implies this character will have an enormous role to play, and we get a hint of what that is before the novel is done.The rest of the novel is largely a sequel to the events of Deadhouse Gates, serving primarily as the tale of the Crippled God's assemblage of his House. It describes machinations on the part of gods and ascendants on both sides, as they manipulate events through the mortals over whom they have influence. By novel's end we can see that the storylines of Genabackis and Seven Cities are merging but without a clear future direction. Instead a secondary plot involving the T'lan Imass and Tiste Edur will be lending the next volume its focus. The writing style is subtly different throughout this fourth volume. Erikson lingers this time over the philosophical points of his characters' evolutions, and some of his geographic descriptions (particularly of Raraku) turn more lyrical. I've the sense that he's found more value in these things than previously, a greater willingness to devote more energy than simply outlining and forging on. He's actually rather good at it when he makes the effort; some passages are worth pausing to reflect over, and I'm inspired again to believe there will be more aftertaste to reading this series than what mind-numbing scale and go-go-go action alone can supply.
    • 2/5
      House of Chains may be the book that ends my reading of Erikson's epic series. Always dancing a knife-edge between success and failure, the omnipresent flaws in House of Chains outweigh its creativity by the end of 1000-odd pages. Pretty much a direct sequel to the second novel of the series, Deadhouse Gates, House of Chains takes the reader back to the rebellion in the Seven Cities, now about to explode. Old characters and new will be pulled into the magical whirlwind gyrating in the heart of the desert, but not everyone will make it back out. It's not that this book is such a radical departure from previous novels, more that the weakest aspects of Erikson's writing overcome the stronger parts in this novel. The excess and melodrama he trades in devolves into somewhat indulgent cacophony in the absence of the pathos, pace and clarity that he brings to the stronger novels. Multiple protagonists are a feature of all these books, but the disparity in actual plot and a sense of overall connectedness is decidedly lacking in House of Chains. As Erikson crams his mythos with ever more back-story, several key characters are left with little to do regarding the actual through-line of the novel - the rebellion. At best, they seem to be advancing plots from future novels, at worst they are warped and manipulated to fit the events that Erikson is working towards, or reduced to redundant "guest star" status.The rebellion itself fares little better. In Gardens of The Moon and Memories of Ice, events held clear import for both characters and the world in general - import that was, crucially, apparent as it was read, as opposed to some ambiguously muttered future. House of Chains lacks that clarity, and huge proportions of the book seem to possess little connection to the broader narrative - whatever that is - and thus seem a bit aimless.This is critically exacerbated by the length of the book. It's a big one - as large as some whole trilogies - and there are many pages that simply don't seem to have a higher purpose (as typified by a 200 page prologue that could have been rendered just as well in 50 or less). As I say, it's indulgent, and whilst indulgence is almost inherent to Erikson's unique series, in better books the reward was commensurate to the effort. I did not get that sense here. Further, key characters are reduced to ciphers, and some of Erikson's writerly quirks, namely fading-to-black for crucial exposition and his truly ridiculous over-use of the verb "drawl" left me feeling impatient and to be honest somewhat disrespected as a reader. This is compounded by the constant rug-yanking ("You thought he was a bad guy! No, he's a good guy! He's not a guy at all, he's a horse! No, he's a chair! No, he's a Chair-God! etc etc)To be fair, his action scenes are, as always, rendered well. The world feels huge - and fully inhabited, and the use of gods as active (and very fallible) participants is enthralling at its best. However, over its gargantuan length, the problems and the constant shifting of motivations left me frustrated. This is book four - and about page 3500 of the series, and I still don't know what it's about, what virtually any of the 'powerful' characters are trying to do, or why (you certainly can't believe anything anyone, including Erikson, says), and where it's headed. Erikson's indulgence begged my own, but my generosity is finite.
    • 3/5
      And just when I thought the Malazan saga was kicking into high gear with the events of Memories of Ice the series is brutally reined in with House of Chains.Maybe it's just something about the plot or the characters involved in the Seven Cities conflict that means I've found this and book two much less enjoyable than the ones focused on Genabackis? Characterization has never been Erikson's strong point in all honesty. I know what certain characters are but I never I know who they are. Having said that, Karsa Orlong, introduced at the start of this novel, is probably Erikson's best developed character. It's a shame that for much of the first 200 pages of this novel he's not particularly likeable and that even thereafter he remains something of an untouchable character in terms of his martial prowess, a fact that renders him slightly boring. Even after that opening "book" in this novel and we're back with the Malazan's and Karsa's place in the story is established this segment of the Malazan saga never quite gets off the ground. Sha'ik's rebellion and attempted suppression is basically a conflict waiting to happen for almost the entire novel; lots of people talking about what might happen with very little actually happening. When events finally do kick off they're deftly written but the outcome is still slightly anti-climatic. Of the other plotlines in this novel - Crokus and Apsalar end up engaged in protecting the Throne of Shadow, the significance of which may or may not be proven in the future. Otherwise their time is spent getting to a point where their stories can get going again and is rather unexciting. Trull Sengar's plotline I found rather uninteresting and seemed to me an overly elaborate and long-winded way of developing just a few plotpoints and setting up book number five.I've read this far, so I'll carry on with the Malazan saga. It's just quite disappointing that after the energy of Memories of Ice and the revelation of the entire saga's nucleus that events slow right back down here. The explosive lift off to the epic conflict with the Chained God that I was expecting just didn't materialise. Some of the problems with his story that I thought Erikson had ironed out with Memories of Ice also reared their head again here resulting in that feeling of the author's reach constantly exceeding his grasp.
    • 5/5
      “Regrets are as nothing. The value lies in how they are answered.” Echoed throughout House of Chains, learned by so very many characters, some of whom you think, at the beginning of the book, couldn't possibly grow enough to appreciate the sentiment.A wonderfully adept book at weaving together multiple storylines and bringing them all together for a totally surprising ending. If you think you can predict what will happen, guess again.Best written of the Malazan books up to 4, mainly because the growth of the major players is so amazing.Also, Cotillion!
    • 4/5
      Another amazing addition to this brutal, alien saga. I thought it would have been hard to top Memories of Ice, but now with this fourth book I'm beginning to feel that the whole story will be one great work, with highs and lows, but all parts crucial to the whole. This time around the story concerns the resolution of the conflict in Seven Cities. You feel the dust, the grit, the bitter smell of magic. Structurally it really feels like he's reinventing the genre. This means that sometimes there's so much agonizing detail and continuity that you want to throw up your hands, but once you settle down and line up everything in your memory, the rewards are fantastic. He's put that much effort into the structure. It strikes me that he used to be an archaeologist, and that the shards he unearthed on a dig must have seemed like clues to a story so huge and detailed that he could never know it all. That's how Malazan reads.There are also completely surprising moments of genuinely felt high emotion: betrayal, rage, anguish. And if you've been following the intricate continuity, discovered moments of irony and coincidence that just knock you out. Amazing amazing. I thought I'd be burning out by now, but I'm ready to go on to the next one. Got to keep all the characters straight in my head...
    • 4/5
      As the resolution of Shaik's Rebellion and some other loose ends, this was satisfying to finish. The start was shaky, with a lot of focus on a seemingly new character in a far off part of the world, unrelated to all that had come before. But, familiar names and places reappear a fifth of the way through the book, and the new stuff is just the back-story for a past character: It's all good.
    • 5/5
      My least favourite of the series. Book three was very strong, I felt this book really failed to continue with the same momentum and excitement. A whole lot going on as far as new characters and reintroduction of some old. Overall though not very much happened in the end. I'm hoping the next one will be better. I'm still a fan of the series and the author
    • 5/5
      Book 4 of Erikson's inspired Malazan Book of the Fallen series provides another compelling story. This is a big, complicated book (1000 pages, 7 different interweaving plot lines) set in a big, complicated world. Things that were completely beffudling in the previous books begin to make more sense, but just when you think you're getting the hang of Erikson's world he throws you a series of new puzzles. Disparate plot lines end up fitting together effectively, leaving you with confidence that Erikson both knows where the series is headed, and how he plans to get there (are you listening Robert Jordan?). In short, Steven Erikson is a true god of contemporary fantasy writing (but in the world of the Malazan Book of the Fallen, being a god just makes you a more interesting target for the big, bad, and powerful). Do NOT read this book if you are looking for light escapism and fairy tale endings. DO read this book if you are looking for the best in dark, gritty, compelling fantasy writing in the market today.
    • 4/5
      The entire book builds and builds into one giant climax, which then resolves in a way that is completely unexpected. It's another great addition to the Malazan series, though I think it doesn't quite live up to the bar set in Memories of Ice.
    • 5/5
      Another massive chunk of a book, internally divided into 4 parts. Part 1 starts a few years before Gardens of the Moon and introduces us to a seemingly brand new group of people and their culture. These tie to Icarium, and ultimately to the T'lan Imass and the House of Chains of the title.Books 2-4 are set after Deadhouse Gates and on the Seven Cities, as Tavore and Sha'ik move to confront each other.There are, as you'd expect, a whole handful of plots going on here: the development of our new friend from book 1, little bits about a genuinely new race and culture, the son of a god, the ascendancy of the Bridgeburners, the talons, betrayal, female circumcision, more history of the T'lan Imass (which connects to the end of the book wonderfully) and more.Yet again they're interwoven and played beautifully into a single whole that is breathtaking in scope and execution.