House of Chains

Malazan Book of the Fallen, Book 4

By: Steven Erikson

Narrated by: Michael Page

Length: 35 hrs and 5 mins

Publisher's summary

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 12,000 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.

©2002 Steven Erikson (P)2013 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.

A change in narrator.

A great tale but the narrator seems to only have a select few voices at his disposal, making some passages a bit confusing.

Thank god for Michael Page

I have loved this series since i was in middle school. I have recently found the time to listen to audio books and i have to say i was so glad to see this series was available. The third book is my favorite, so i started with that one, but i cannot stand Ralph Lister. He is so hard to listen to. Every time he does Kruppe's voice i just want to straggle him. But Michael Page is a breath of fresh air in comparison. He is great! I'm just sad i cannot listen to the first three books.

Excellent!!!

Hands down this is one of my favorite series of all time. This is my third or fourth time reading through the series, and first time listening to it via narration. while I really enjoyed the previous narrator, this books narrator seemed a little more limited due to the sheer number of characters in the series.

Nonetheless, 100% recommend, and I promise that you will not be disappointed.

Enjoy!

Be patient.

Starts out a bit rough and almost disjointed. Picks up a few chapters in. Ends well.

WITNESS!

Definitely one of my favorite characters; Carla Orlong. If you are still considering the next book then this is an especially good one.

Another good one!

Fourth book in the series, I love this one as well. the book started off a little different with staying with one character for so long however it went back to his original style later. already bought the Nextbook can't wait to get it started!

Why does everyone sound Indian?

My complaint is with the narrator Michael Paige. He makes almost every main character sound Indian or packistani. Torvald Nom who is a Daru is perfectly done with an English accent. So all Daru should be the same right? No. Fiddler and Crokus who are also Daru have very heavy Indian accents. I don’t get it. I really miss Ralph listers work from the first three ( check out his work in the ash and sand series, highly recommend!). As many others have said, the narrator’s pronunciations are awful and different from what Lister established, which were perfect. I love using audible but I may have to just read the rest of the series. I may give it one more book to see if it improves.

Warning... New narrator!

How the author keeps up with all the different story lines, characters and perspectives is nothing short of brilliant. No matter how remote each separate story seems from the others, the all converge into each other very nicely at the end.
There is a new narrator for this book, and his character voices and pronunciations of some words is vastly different from Ralph Listor, the narrator of the previous 3 books. That took a little getting used to.
Can't wait to see what happens in book 5!!

Narrator change is jarring at first.

The abrupt switch from the previous 3 audiobooks narrator to Michael page was hard to get used to. The story is a great addition to the series and once you acclimate to the new reader, it doesn’t feel as alien- although his pronunciation of some words and names can be distracting.
Still overall well worth the price of admission, and a good listen.

excellent story, but I miss Ralph lister

fantastic work as always by the author. Michael page however is mediocre. Having Ralph lister back would be fantastic. Hard to differentiate characters, especially as first syllables were frequently not audlible (pun intended) do to spotty quality