House of Chains Review (Malazan #4) - Underrated, Intimate and Engrossing
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 10 ก.พ. 2025
- A spoiler-filled review of House of Chains, book 4 in Malazan Book of the Fallen by Steven Erikson. I don't hear this book talked about much when it comes to Malazan as a whole, I thoroughly enjoyed my time with it!
Spoilers: 01:49
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Its great to finally get your review. From reading your thoughts on the previous books on the discord, I had a feeling you might enjoy this one, and so glad that you did. I love this book. While the highs of this book may not be as big as some of the others, this books doesn't really have any negative for me, love everything in it.
Regarding whether to read Esslemont books along with the main series, I have a write up which slightly long, so I will post in in the discord instead.
You were so right. Such a fantastic book and looking forward to the next one! Thanks so much for the advice as well 🤘🏽
I’ve been waiting for this review, finally!
Great to see another big Malazan fan 🤘🏽🤘🏽
Thanks so much! I’m eager to get to the next one, especially from all the praise I’ve heard
Nice review! You're right it's an amazing book, and it's not usually in people's top 3 of the series. That's not cause it's bad, just cause the rest of the series is that good too!!
Regarding mixing in Esslemont - Night of Knives after Midnight Tides is fine, no big deal either way. But besides that, I feel strongly that you should just read MBotF straight through, and then read NotME (Esslemont's Novels of the Malazan Empire). Yes there's strong overlap in terms of time period and some characters, but they also both tell their own stories. Frankly Esslemont's writing just isn't as good either, and RotCG in particular is kind of a mess. It's still good and a must-read if you love MBotF, but it interrupts Erikson's flow.
You'll see different opinions on this and in the end do what you want, see how it works, nothing is gonna RUIN your experience lol. In the end it's all down to personal preference. For what it's worth, I think the opinion of not mixing them (on the FIRST read in particular) is way more common in the fandom than mixing what hey what do I know I'm just a dude
Looking forward to hearing how much you love Midnight Tides!
Thanks so much for this! I’ve heard this opinion twice now and you’ve affirmed my decision to make an exception for Night of Knives only on this read through. Much appreciated 🤘🏽
Nice to see you carrying on. Despite the fact that some characters die and come back, Erikson manages a lot of gut punches along the way.
And as long as you are prepared for a different writing style, reading both sets of books in the publication order is not a bad thing as people who read them as they were being published can attest to. 😁
Excellent, can’t wait to read more! Much appreciated 🤘🏽
I recommend the ICE books. They are a great addition, especially if you can't get enough Malazan.
Perfect, I’ll have to include them on this read through. Cheers 🤘🏽
Here we go. I can't wait for the chat with the boys. :)
P.S. The next book MAY BE your next favourite book. I said it first.
The Azath house in Jhag Odan is the short story of Phyrlis, the Jhag woman encased by an ancient tree. She gave Karsa a new horse.
On the other hand, Gothos is guarding the Deadhouse -- which is located in Malaz. There are many Azath houses scattered all around the realm
Ah glad to have that cleared up. Cheers 🤘🏽
Awesome breakdown. You reminded me of some of the smaller moments in this book I'd forgotten about but which came back fresh in my brain after you mentioned it. Great video!
Much appreciated! So many great moments and can’t wait to continue, cheers 🤘🏽
Love the breakdown. 100% accurate on wanting to reread as you go. I’m mid midnight tides and there’s so much I wanna go back and experience
Awesome to hear! I’ve never anticipated a reread this highly before
Great review! As usual!
Much appreciated, cheers 🤘🏽
Great review dude. Just now catching it. I really can’t wait to chat about this one I feel like there are just so many ways we could go.
Oh yeah, tons of talking points. Should be an interesting chat!
I also believe I’m gonna do the night of knives read, it also being my first read thriugh
Yes! Night of Knives seems like a safe bet, the others I’ll save for after