Kulp manages to open a rent from Kurald Emurlahn to his own Meanas warren, drawing the attention of an undead Soletaken dragon, which grants Kulp the power to heal the rent. Infatuated with his own talents even more than he is with Lostara’s, erm, talents, Pearl is the very personification of hubris, and believes himself to be the exception to that old adage about pride and falling. Felisin (selfishly, some would argue) takes what little comforts she can find, and acts like a complete cow to everyone around her – including her two mismatched shackle-buddies from Unta, Heboric and Baudin. However, Duiker wrote a few naughty things which were considered seditious by those in authority at the time, and now he finds his old creaky arsebones battered day after day on horseback as part of a fleeing army on a sand-blasted continent. He’s no D’ivers, but High Priest of Shadow Iskaral Pust is much craftier than his ostensibly comic relief role leads us to believe.

But, I recognize that her character traits is purposeful so I've kept it out of Bad and in Medicore. And good ol’ Bult, with his mangled face and crude-but-loveable manner, is right behind his beloved clan leader every step of the way. En route to the coast, Heboric finds a huge jade pillar that turns out to be merely the finger of an enormous figure, and touches it with his stumps of hands, which draws his god Fener into the mortal realm. Felisin accepts the goddess's power but does not give herself up entirely, and adopts a young girl and names her Felisin.

Weathering Lostara’s long-repressed outrage is Pearl, a Claw, who accompanies the Red Blade captain for a short time in pursuit of his former Claw-mate Kalam. Your friendly Malazan tour guide is here once again, this time with a handy rundown of the major players in Deadhouse Gates. There is very little light to balance the grim reality of Erikson’s fantasy, and that appears to be the trend in fantasy today. Baudin's and Kulp's death hit pretty hard, not because I was particularly sad but because they were so unexpected.

Memories of Ice was originally meant to be the second book in sequence, following Gardens of the Moon. Baudin and Heboric arrange, with Duiker's help, to escape from the mines during a slave mutiny and give Felisin the chance to go with them, and she agrees. Duiker’s POV chapters were easily the best part of the book for me, and anyone who has read this book will definitely know why. I can guarantee that you’ll look forward to seeing this guy get his just desserts from the moment you meet him; but while justice is sweet indeed, be warned that you’ll have to wait until later in the series to witness it.With deepest gratitude I acknowledge the following for their support: the staff at Cafe Rouge, Dorking (keep the coffees coming. Unlike the previous book, which followed different groups of characters in close proximity to one another, the character threads in Deadhouse Gates are frequently separated by hundreds or thousands of miles at a time. The interior of Tremorlor is like a map of all Azath Houses, and Pust and then Icarium and Mappo disappear to other parts of the world. Coltaine insists that Duiker keep the bottle Dujek sent him because it is more important that the empire's memory survive than its soldiers.

A powerful novel of war, intrigue and betrayal, it confirms Steven Erikson as a storyteller of breathtaking skill, imagination and originality - a new master of epic fantasy. You know how The Black Company works so well because the narrator, Croaker (NOT related to Heboric the toad), is a historian whose role as a war chronicler provides a convenient pretext for him to witness all kinds of situations and battles and top-secret meetings? We’re a collaborative review site run by volunteers who love Fantasy, Sci-fi, Horror, and everything in-between. Fiddler's conch shell with its Tano song and munitions delivered from Quick Ben by the Trygalle Trade Guild help to restrain the shapeshifters, as does Crokus's bhoka’rala, who turns out to be a soletaken demon who becomes the guardian of Tremorlor after opening the door for the company.One of Coltaine’s officers recognizes Gesler as a former captain, and when Gesler threatens to punch him if he’s promoted again Coltaine punches Gesler and breaks his own hand; Nil concludes that Gesler, Stormy, and Truth are nearly ascended. Coltaine's Wickans defeat one of Kamist Reloe's tribes, though outnumbered seven to one, thus convincing Duiker that Coltaine means to do more than merely flee the rebellion.