House of Chains

The Malazan Book of the Fallen 4

By: Steven Erikson

Narrated by: Michael Page

Length: 35 hrs and 4 mins

Publisher's summary

Random House presents the audiobook edition of House of Chains: The Malazan Book of the Fallen 4 by Steven Erikson, read by Michael Page.

In Northern Genabackis, before the events recounted in Gardens of the Moon, a raiding party of savage tribal warriors descend from the mountains into the flat lands. For one among them, Karsa Orlong, it marks the beginning of what will prove an extraordinary destiny. 

Some years later, it is the aftermath of the Chain of Dogs. Coltaine is dead. And now the untried new Adjunct, Tavore, must urgently raise an army able to withstand the forces of the Sha'ik's Whirlwind that are massing in Raraku, the few remaining veterans from Coltaine's march her only hope....

So begins the epic new novel of war, intrigue, magic and betrayal from a writer now acknowledged as one of the most original, imaginative and exciting storytellers in modern fantasy.

©2002 Steven Erikson (P)2019 Random House Audiobooks

the new reader is awful

I cannot but say that Michael page has big shoes to fill after Lister. He seems unable to distinguish his personae and makes them all sound so similar. Lister's character all had unique voices and he barely ever mixed them up. this cannot be said for Page who seemed to have difficulties giving a voice to Karsa. I can only hope he gets better at if from here on in as I know he has narrated the rest as well. why anyone would want to exchange Ralph Lister for Michael page is beyond me at this point. as for the story itself... what can I say? Erickson is a genius. The way he weaves the plots of all his personae together. It is, to say the least, brilliant. I was on one page rooting for our bridge burners, as I grew a soft spot for lloric on the other. In the beginning I wanted to tear Karsa orlong apart and sock him in the arrogant month. But the Crude arrogant bastard grows on you as you follow him on his journey towards values. The mean Rope that now has a human face.... the majestic world of the Malazan empire has me in its claws and I gladly continue the rest of the journey.

Rough transition but great book

The biggest obstacle in letting me enjoy this audio book is the translation from Ralph Lister to Michael Page. But once you accept there's nothing you can do about it the story is just great.

Too many words!

I liked this saying the most in this book: - Crocus "To ascend is also to surrender. Immortality is turning away. Mortals fate is to embrace life itself as it is with all its fraud. (Also the death I guess should be embraced). Life is mortals first lover! Worship of imperfection and accepting mistakes - crippled god have actually quite seductive narative. The series are keeping to be nicely brutal (like Toblakai's last encounter with Bidithal) in the way as old legends and mythos are even with the same narative which I like a lot. This book is still a bit "madhouse", but not that much as the previous one, where the characters have strange (emotional) states/thoughts regarding how much other things they withstand or in the light of their thousands of years old life in the case of some of them - they are sort of more believable . Some bits remains like Knuckles have life issues because of too much speaking, Keeper is odd too, god have a problem asking questions, god of death is accused of possesing one girl (being the patron of assasins and kills thousands is fine?), but those mostly psychological issues are cool in some way. It seems to me like sort of an epic tale with parts of B type literature and on the level of psychological world of the characters. Maybe I'll find better name for this in the future. Overall most of the characters being god's, humans or aliens have more or less human issues, they have their family (whatever group they consider for it) and family matters which is important for them, they like animals and diversity, they are introverts beyond imagine (Yaguths).. but those are all still human issues from human psyche. And I have to say I really like authors view of the world and people which could be nicely seen from this. Anyway, Malazan series becoming another series in my life that after going through them all I would like to erases them from my memory so I can read them again...

Great book, terrible narration.

The first three volumes of this series as narrated by Ralph lister are excellent. Why audible chose to switch to the ponderous declamation which appears to be Michael page’s sole vocal mode is beyond me.

I will continue with the series solely because I’m a Malazan Book of the fallen fan, and am using the audio books to revisit the series.

We’re it not for that prior affection I wouldn’t touch anything narrated by this narrator. I assume that his overblown plodding style appeals to some people but as far as I’m concerned it’s an impediment to enjoyment.

Review of narrator

Michael Page isn’t nearly as good as Ralph Lister. He pronounces words differently (diver, soletaken, Imass for example). The voices you know and love from the first three books have changed and many of the participants have the same voice, tone, cadence etc which get confusing). I skipped through the first 30 minutes of this as the Teblor sounded all the same. It did get better as it went along and you got more used to it but partly because you just know nothings going to change so you adapt your listening

Different voice actor, jarring change

While I really liked Ralph Lister's narration, Michael Page is almost as good, but different. Ralph Lister has a better narration voice, and pronounced Malazan's names and words better. Michael Page has a narrator voice that sounds like he's reading Shakespeare, but does amazing voices for the characters. He gives them accents (not all good though, Malazans are slightly Indian for some reason), which gives the books a more realistic feel.

Still, the change of narrator is jarring. Page pronounces names differently, and gives characters completely different voices and accents from Lister (why are Fiddler and Crokus Indian??). Why Page didn't listen to Lister's narration for the sake of continuity is beyond me.
Why they chose to change voice actor 4 books in is also beyond me.

Why change narrator?! :(

Having read the books before I really enjoyed the previous audiobooks, and this enstallment of the story is good. However, changing narrator midway through such a complex series was a terrible decision. Michael Page reads well and his reading voice is very good, but his voice acting is a major disappointment here. Partly this is because the previous reader was so good at bringing the various characters to life and obviously the voices will change between readers. Worse though is the way many of the characters sound the same, a variant on a south Asian / Indian accent. It makes it hard to recall who is who and moreover the Malazan books are renowned for involving characters from many different continents! seven cities native- sounds Indian. ok fine. Fiddler from Malaz, sounds Indian. Crocus, from Darijistan, sounde Indian, and about 20 years older than he should be. The worst though- the Jaghut, sound Indian too. They're not even human. Weirdly, his female voices were a bit better in this regard. Karsa sounds good and as mentioned his reading voice is very solid, but overall a disappointment. I get the feeling he didn't listen to the previous readings at all. Most of this criticism is more fairly directed at whoever arranged the change of reader. Will try and soldier through the next book.

Do not change the story teller through a series.

you should not change the story teller through a series of books. other it was ok

Karsa Orlong!

The first part of this book focusing solely on Karsa Orlong's story is honestly on of the most entertaining audiobooks I've ever heard!

Good continuation, let down by change in narrator.

This will be brief as I liked the book (as well as the previous 3) but I have issues with the change in narrator.

I get that the series is long and that there would be changes along the way but would it have killed the new narrator to have listened to at least one of the previous titles before going on to perform for this and subsequent books?

Like with other reviewers the book is let down with the jarring pronunciation changes. I can almost accept the voice changes as it would be difficult to mimic Ralph Lister's coterie but the majority of voices from Michael Page, even the women, sound identical and it's quite difficult to pick who is speaking at any point.

The pronunciation is the worst though especially after 3 books worth from Ralph.

Overall a good listen though. On to book 5.

Great book, and I prefer Michael Page!

If you've gotten this far you'll know the Malazan books are fantastic, so I'll leave that as it is.

I'm mainly writing this review to offer a counter opinion on Michael Page since there are quite a few negative reviews about him. I'm now a few books further down the line from this one and while I did find the change very jarring initially, particularly the changes in pronunciation of some words I actually think Page is my preferred narrator. Page generally has a much more serious tone with gravitas imbued in everything he says, very fitting for a series as dark and grand in scale as this. Lister is fantastic, but a few of his accents particularly his nasal Seven Cities accent were too cartoony sounding in my opinion.

Different narrator, still good

Change of narrator did not take away from the story. Yes a bit different in voices and some of the names are said slightly differently but it's not a problem. If you're looking at buying this then you already know to pay attention as you don't get your hand held and eased into the lore.

terrible narration

It was hard to follow the story when everyone sounds the same and has similar accent. Names of people and places are not pronounced consistent with first 3 books. I had to occasionally stop and look at the paper version to work out who is talking because I couldn't link the narration back to the first 3 books which were performed beautifully and professionally.... what a let down!
The story itself is good but not as rich with events and twists as memories of ice