House of Chains

Title: House of Chains

4th book of the Malaza Book of the Fallen series

Author: Steven Erikson

This book begins with the story of Karsa Orlong. Those who have read the first three books in the series know him by the name of Toblakai. A quarter of the book is spent relating his journey to discover the place of their people in the world. The book spans all the previous three books so readers have to take note of some events that were mentioned earlier in the series so they do not miss the significance of said events.

The readers also encounter the elder races here for the first time. These include: a Forkrul Assail, Tiste Edur, the Eres, and Tiste Liosan. Half of the story is also told from the point of view of a Tiste Edur and a T'lan Imass for the first time. The nature of the Tellann Ritual is examined here as well.

The story focuses on the two important things that makes up this series. Readers will be presented with Korbolo Dom's long-term plans for the Malazan Empire, as well as the Crippled God's schemes to get into power. The theme of the book however is on leadership.

Karsa Orlong represents a determined but ignorant leader. He soon discovers that destiny and strength alone cannot make other people bend to his will. Schooled in heroic legends, he makes the mistake of underestimating the enemies he has only encountered in stories. Felisin or Sha'ik on the other hand represents the overconfident but inexperienced leader. She thinks her power and influence alone can win over everything else. There are times when she falters in her resolve, but this is replaced by hatred and hunger for vengeance. The kind of environment this leader fosters breeds overconfidence and laziness in important people involved with her cause. It seemed she could not handle her important officers well.

Fiddler represents the reluctant leader. Unlike Gamet however, Fiddler strives to find reason to continue fighting. Gamet has more doubts. Perhaps it was because he has already given up the life of a soldier. He never had any experience leading soldiers as well. He thinks lack of experience leads to incompetence. They do not have to bear the burden all by themselves however. People around them are constantly reminding them that their guidance is needed as well the their years of experience. Adjunct Tavore and Temul have to bear the responsibility alone though. Their followers doubt their abilities to lead because of lack of experience. If they falter however, the others will think they do not have enough reason to fight for them. The army is beset by doubt. Any weakness from the leaders will seal their doom. Emotions have to be set aside to perform well. The young leaders have to isolate themselves from others although from time to time they have no choice but to reach out. Tavore has to show no weakness and has to endure being in the shadows of Coltaine. While Temul has to live up to the expectations of his tribe.

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The book has explained several things that were not so clear in the first three books. But it did not clarify the mystery behind what happened to Heboric. I was also expecting to read more from Felisin/Sha'ik but her importance has diminished. I was also disappointed with the final battle that took place in Raraku. It seems Erikson was trying save time and effort to illustrate a battle between the two armies. The spirits fighting on behalf of the Malazan Empire is an easy escape but I guess it makes sense. 

His one-on-one fight scenes are still not enough. Instead of illustrating how two fighters clashed, he used one sentence and wrote 'the swords were a blur'. I have seen that line a dozen times. I was anticipating a good battle between Karsa and Icarium but he did not even give me any image by describing how they fought. He is better at illustrating fight scenes involving assassins however. Also, his style of revealing bit by bit about the elder races works well. I have rediscovered a few more things about the T'lan Imass in this book. 

Overall it's still a good book but I wish there could have been more.