Deadhouse Gates is an epic fantasy novel by Canadian writer Steven Erikson, the second installment in his Malazan Book of the Fallen series.

Deadhouse Gates takes place a few months after the conclusion of Gardens of the Moon, though it features few recurring characters and almost no shared settings between the two novels.

During her ordeal, Felisin befriends Baudin, a hardened thug, and Heboric, an excommunicated High Priest of Fener, the war god, who has been punished by having his hands removed.

This path leads to Tremorlor, an Azath House located in the Holy Desert of Raraku, which is believed to offer Ascendancy and the possibility of godhood.

As the battle unfolds, Icarium and Mappo find refuge in the temple of Iskaral Pust, a High Priest of Shadow whose eccentric behavior suggests he may be insane.

The journey, spanning hundreds of leagues on foot, is undertaken to protect the civilians from the impending rebellion inspired by Sha'ik, a prophetess leading the uprising from the Holy Desert of Raraku.

Despite the dire situation, the continent's High Fist, Pormqual, refuses to provide a naval convoy, choosing instead to remain sheltered within Aren.

The Spiritwalker offers a song of power that could grant ascension to the Bridgeburners, honoring their sacrifices in the empire's dishonorable war to conquer the Seven Cities.

It becomes evident that Kellanved and Dancer evaded Laseen's assassination attempts by ascending to godhood, claiming dominion over the new Warren and House of Shadow.

With Duiker's help, Baudin and Heboric orchestrate an escape from the otataral mines during a slave mutiny and offer Felisin the chance to join them.

Fener is forced to flee, and Heboric’s hands become tangible, blending his Denul warren's healing magic with the otataral’s magic-deadening properties.

Pust informs Icarium and Mappo that Sha'ik will be resurrected and reveals that an enormous wall of deadly, whirling sand now surrounds Raraku.

Icarium and Mappo leave to seek out Sha'ik but instead encounter Fiddler, Crokus, and Apsalar, who have survived storms, rebel pursuers, and the ongoing shapeshifter battle.

When the refugees are trapped at a wide river between two opposing armies, Coltaine refuses to offer special treatment to the Malazan nobles under Nethpara, despite their protests.

His sappers then detonate the road as the peasant army begins to cross, while Coltaine leads his forces to defeat the enemy ahead of the refugees.

Mappo reveals to Fiddler that he and Icarium have discovered carvings in Pust's temple resembling the Deck of Dragons, but with ancient Holds instead of modern Houses.

They suspect that Pust, Shadowthrone, and Cotillion may have plans for Apsalar to replace Sha'ik as the rebellion's prophetess in order to lure in and kill Empress Laseen.

The group seeks refuge in a cave network to escape Raraku's whirling sand, where they find a ruined First Empire city of T’lan Imass, destroyed in mere hours by the outbreak of conflict between the Soletaken and D’ivers.

At one point, his warlocks Nil and Nether open a tunnel into a raider encampment to destroy it, inadvertently revealing an underground water source.

At the P’atha crossing, Nil and Nether sacrifice a mare to empower Coltaine's heavy cavalry, granting them the strength needed to charge up Kamist Reloe's artificial ramp.

At Kalam’s request, Apt removes 1,300 Malazan children crucified by Korbolo Dom’s army and takes them to the Warren of Shadow, saving one child, Panek.

Apsalar and Servant then lead Fiddler, Crokus, Icarium, and Mappo to the threshold of what Iskaral calls a "knotted torn piece of warren," to which his false Path of Hands has led the shapeshifters.

Fiddler’s conch shell, with its Tano song, and munitions delivered by Quick Ben through the Trygalle Trade Guild, help to restrain the shapeshifters.

Fiddler, Crokus, Servant, and Apsalar eventually find their way to Malaz City, where the Deadhouse's Guardian, Gothos, reveals that Icarium is his son.

Uninterested in the Path of Hands, Pust watches as the dragon T’lan Imass Bonecaster, guardian of the real gate at his temple, leaves into a warren.

Kalam meets Salk Elan to learn that the Ragstopper and the entire Aren fleet have been impounded, with Admiral Nok arrested by Pormqual, who plans to flee by sea.

Quick Ben confirms that the ship is indeed under a glamour of confusion and promises to assist Fiddler and the others as they approach Tremorlor due to the active warrens.

The Trygalle Trade Guild arrives via warren to provide food and water from Dujek and friends in Darujhistan, along with a bottle for Coltaine to crush against his chest when the time comes.

However, the archer Squint kills him from the city wall at Duiker's urging, and thousands of crows arrive to carry off his spirit (which, in the epilogue, enters the body of a previously motionless infant in a Wickan widow's belly).

Icarium and Mappo later emerge from the Azath warren on the Aren way to find Stormy, Gesler, and Truth searching for Duiker's corpse among the crucified.