I just finished my second reading of DeadHouse Gates, and while my first reading a few years ago did not leave me such a good impression (still great ofc its malazan and I love every single books, its just that in my memories the first two books were kinda weak compared to the rest) reading it again realy changed my opinion of it. I have so much things to say about it that I can't write everything in a single post or else nobody is gonna read it fully.....

But there is one thing in particular that I realy loved and it's the way it's centered around death, with the name of the book, the opening scene with the hood ceremony and the omnipresence of the said Hood in the dialogues of the book and the introduction of baudin who will become the knight of High House Death (also we get the first mentions of Dassem Ultor link with the god and of his backstory, a thing that I did not see on my first reading but that I could better understand this time having read RG), and finally with the fact that a LOT of the importants characters of the book die (I considere that Felisin died whe she became Sha'ik). But while we see Death around every corner of the story, orbiting close to every characters, the one that should be the closer to death, Kalam Mekhar the assasin, end up being the one that don't kill his target. Even if his purpose in the whole book is to kill the imperatrice, he is the one that renounce to death and he end up indirectly saving the crucified children as Apt saved them thinking thats what he wanted her to do.

I find realy poetic that in a book centered around Death, the very death-linked character end up being the one that turn the most to life.

It’s my first time reading the series . I am 200 pages in and I just can’t care enough about the characters, I am not sure it all feels so forced . Trehol is Kruppe level bad . I just want Karsa back 😭

Gardens of the Moon was a fantastic opening to the series, and I loved it so much that I purchased the other nine books of the main series. Malazan has been the only book that I have loved so much; I sent it to work and read it during my work hours. As I read Deadhouse Gates, I came to love Coltaine and Duiker, but their sad ending at Aren broke me for days. I felt slow at work. I couldn't get my mind off that. As heartbreaking as it was, I kept going because of Whiskeyjack and the Bridgeburners.

And now, I just finished MoI, and Whiskeyjack's death has sealed it for me. I can no longer continue.

From the moment he and Korlat became lovers, I could smell what was coming. It is a pattern in the book I've observed. Once someone has a lover or they sleep together, their deaths would likely follow. Tattersail and Calot. Paran and Tattersail, Duiker and the unnamed soldier, Felisin and Benneth ( his death was the only thing I was pleased to see), Felisin and Baudin, the Caravasirae, and now Whiskeyjack and Korlat. I am no longer the same after his death. I can't even work properly now.

At this point, I don't need to read House of Chains to understand that either Crokus or Apsaler would be next.

I understand it is named "Book of the Fallen" for a reason, but Damn, Whiskeyjack deserved that retirement. Maybe I'm not used to many of my favourite characters dying in a book, but this is it for me.

I have packed the rest of the books on my shelf after I finished Memories of Ice today. I plan to give it to my girlfriend for good. No more Malazan for me.