In Gardens of the Moon, I felt invested only in a few of the characters, but Erikson has delivered what I wanted with the characterizations here.

The main action of Memories of Ice, the third novel in the series, partially overlaps that of Deadhouse Gates.First released in 2000 in Great Britain and Canada, it was published by Tor in 2005 for the United States.

Big, beardy, and even more miserable than his best mate Gesler, Corporal Stormy isn’t named for his calm and tolerant temperament. I know they're supposed to be other worlds or smth, but how do people keep entering them and getting lost? Other than Kalam/Minala, none of them have any chemistry whatsoever, and that romance comes out of nowhere. Duiker sends the mage Kulp on a Malazan boat to retrieve the trio from the otataral island, but the company is drawn into a mad mage's watery warren where they board the Silanda, on which they find headless Tiste Andii oarsmen still capable of accepting commands and probable Tiste Edur corpses in the captain's cabin. Unaccustomed to dealing with anything more strenuous than indigestion, Felisin Paran gets the shock of her life when the Cull tears her from a life of comfort, drags her in shackles through a heckling populace, and dumps her on a boat to finally disembark on Otataral Island.His characterization is brilliant, and he has created people you cheer for (who wouldn’t follow Coltaine? The three are sent to an otataral mine off the coast of the continent of the Seven Cities, where Felisin offers her body to the slaves’ self-appointed leader Beneth in exchange for protection for the trio, and becomes addicted to narcotic durhang. The dragon leads the Silanda into a fire warren, and Kulp, Heboric, Baudin, and Felisin fall or leap to safety in the mundane world near Raraku as the ship moves between warrens, on fire.

Soon they encounter Logros T'lan Imass warriors under Bonecaster Hentos Ilm pursuing an unnamed quarry who inform the humans that they are in Kurald Emurlahn, the Tiste Edur Elder Warren. In the vast dominion of Seven Cities, in the Holy Desert Raraku, the seer Sha'ik gathers an army around her in preparation for the long-prophesied uprising named the Whirlwind. You’ll know by now that the Malazan marines (like Fiddler and Kalam) are the toughest sumbitches this side of Hood’s gate. One of Coltaine’s officers recognizes Gesler as a former captain, and when Gesler threatens to punch him if he’s promoted again Coltaine punches Gesler and breaks his own hand; Nil concludes that Gesler, Stormy, and Truth are nearly ascended. He appeared on the mortal plane and then that plot point is almost never touched on again save a few conversations.They are caught up in a battle between shapeshifters who follow the Path of Hands to Tremorlor, an Azath House in the Holy Desert Raraku, that may offer Ascendency and ultimately godhood. They leave to seek her out and instead find Fiddler, Crokus, and Apsalar, who've made their way through storms, rebel pursuers, and the ongoing shapeshifter battle.