Reading 'The Bonehunters' there were moments, particularly those involving the characters linked to the House of Shadow, where I was ready to proclaim this the best of the series yet. Unfortunately though in this installment Erikson tries to do too much, even by his own ambitiously epic standards, and the plot progression is marred by countless stops and starts. Nonetheless there are many rewards for patience; not least the increased focus on Cotillion, one of the most intriguing characters in my eyes, the birth of the Bonehunters out of the brutal siege of Y'Ghatan, and many revelations about the war within the Pantheon. ( )

I am now thoroughly convinced Erikson is the greatest epic author of our time. I am astounded at the increasing quality of his writing and his ability to continue churning out such interesting material. Eagerly on to the next book in the series!

There's simply too much going on in this book for me to attempt to recap the major story-lines. And for once, this was actually the downfall of this edition of the Malazan Books. There was too much going on, and I lost all focus. This book dragged for me, taking more than 6 weeks to finish. And sadly, it was because I often felt no motivation to pick it up at all. Erikson's talent is undeniable, his insight genius, his story-telling ability unrivaled. But this book fell flat. It wasn't until the last 200-300 pages that I really got interested, and asking readers to struggle through 800 or so pages before things really move is simply unrealistic.

Erikson's ideology here also takes too central a stage. Abandoning subtlety, in The Bonehunters he's hitting you over the head with it... over, and over, and over again. Given the sophistication and difficulty of this series up to this point, this is a huge insult to his readers, all of whom I have to presume are intelligent enough not to need things spelled out for them.

Moving forward, I really hope that this book was an anomaly; that a volume was needed to tie up so many loose ends, and that the rest of the series will return to its former brilliance. I'm concerned, however, that this might go the way of Goodkind's series; for when his political message became the focus instead of the backdrop, that series lost all literary value. Don't let me down, Steven!!! ( )

I still am enjoying this series, but I'm starting to wish that there was more to connect the various threads being told. Quite a few major events take place, and yet it's not clear what the long-term significance will be. The Malazan armies continue to go through hell and mostly survive, and the tale of Mappo and Icarium is sadder still but for a glimmer of hope at the end, but then for Karsa Orlong we see a bit of action and no real progress in this chapter. So overall I continue to be swept up in the maelstrom of events, but I would like to see the big picture start to be resolved. ( )

[Amy] I am very bad at reviewing these books. This is not at all surprising, though - I'm pretty sure I'm not doing a very good job of reading them, either. I have plans to re-read the entire series the minute I finish the last one of them, at which point I'll probably start putting together a lot of things that I should have been noticing all along.

In my defense, I seem to have terrible timing with them. I always pick one up just before a time of great stress or tiredness or busy-ness or some such prevents me from having very many uninterrupted stretches of reading, and I may go days without touching the book at all. In fact, I went to England when I was in the middle of reading this one, and it was left at home. Which meant the half-dozen books I read on that trip all came in the middle of an extended hiatus on this one, which really needed to be read with full attention and possible a bit of notetaking.

Anyway. All that aside, this installment of the Malazan saga was a bit less scattered in the selection of stories it was trying to tell than some of them have seemed to me - but then, that might just be because some of the threads are starting to come together. I enjoyed every minute I spent reading it - and at 1229 pages of dense prose, that's a lot of minutes. Between my concerns stated above and the fact that this is book six of a remarkably hefty series, I don't actually have much to say in specific about it, though I recommend the series to anyone with a willingness to defer gratification, an ability to track a dozen-odd plot threads simultaneously, and a stomach for unpleasant events (though you don't need as strong a stomach as you do for, say, A Song of Ice and Fire, for calibration).
(http://weblog.siliconcerebrate.com/ze...) ( )

The review is originally available at Realms of Speculative Fiction - http://sf-fantasy-books.blogspot.com/...

It took me the better part of the month to work -- yes, sometimes it really felt like a chore, but which ultimately paid off in the end -- my way through the sixth novel in the sprawling Malazan Book of the Fallen series. I found out that most of the things I’ve ascertained in my review of Midnight Tides (review) still hold true for its successor – The Bonehunters. Erikson is a genius epic fantasy writer, but alas, the series is beginning to show first signs of jadedness.

~~~

In The Bonehunters, Erikson returns to the continent of Seven Cities, where we once again encounter Fid, Kalam, Bottle, Quick Ben and the rest of the menagerie that is the Malazan’s 14th Army under Adjunct Tavore Paran. The 14th is in the pursuit of Leoman of the Flails and his Dog Slayers, the last remnants of the Shaik’s rebellious army. The Jhag Icarium finds himself with a new companion, a witch named Samar Dev, as does Karsa Orlong, whose long time companion, Mappo Trell, is ambushed by Dejim Nebrahl, a D’ivers agent of the Nameless Ones, and then replaced by Taralack Veed, a warrior of the Gral tribe. Tiste Edur scour the seas in send foraying parties to all parts of the world in search of champions who deem themselves worthy of challenging the Emperor of Lether. Their second objective turns out to be The First Throne, defended by a meager crew – consisted of Minala, Aptorian deamon, a legion of warrior children, Trull Sengar and his loyal companion, Onrack The Broken -- scrapped together by the two rulers of The High House Shadow. Heboric Light Touch, Croaker, Scillara, familiar Greyfrog and Felisin the Younger are on their way to reach Otataral Island. There are also other (semi)important characters appearing, but suffice to say that everything builds towards another convergence, this time to happen in the heart of the Malazan Empire, The Imperial City of Malaz itself.

~~~

I have to admit that the novel left me pretty unconvinced until well after the page count passed the half mark. The set up, the characters -- their musings and wanderings, overstretched and relatively unimportant for the plot -- and the rest of the elements of the first half of the novel seemed insipid when compared to some of the things that transpired in the previous books. The first thing that crossed my mind was that Erikson’s writing would really profit from stricter editing; the book seems vague at times and overlong for at least 200 hundred pages or so.

The world’s scale is as colossal as ever, with a few sprinkling details added, some of them even sufficiently explained – but once again, the questions raised supersede by far those answered. I really hope that Erikson manages to bring his saga to a proper (or at least satisfying) conclusion with the last three books that are yet to see the light of day. Some of the gods/ascendants get a proper (re)introduction -- I’m referring to Cotillion and Shadowthrone -- which is a good thing; but also a few of the previously unseen god-figures make their presence in the book, which is not such a good thing, since we are once again left wandering in the dark regarding their motivations, heritage or what is most important – allegiance. I admit that I sorely miss Anomander Rake, Caladan Brood, the laconic T’lan Imass and some of the other previously encountered characters and races.

The most probable reason that I didn’t get into the book for what seemed like an eternity was because the characters left me nonplussed – the pathos that reverberated within Deadhouse Gates (book two), Memories of Ice (book three) and even House of Chains (book four) is now mostly gone. One of the best times I had with the book was when Erikson unleashes Iskaral Pust (one of my favorite characters, no doubt). On the other hand, Bottle, who plays a big role in The Bonehunters, never managed to entice me as much as I would have liked. I’m aware that it’s the plot that moves the series forward, prior to characterization (or anything else for that matter), but I’d still prefer, if Erikson wouldn’t use his characters as a vessel for his baffling musings on life, war, religion etc. so much, because it becomes sordid with overuse. I’d also opt for lesser number of POV’s; this approach is slowly outgrowing “epic” and is becoming something big, misshaped and unrecognizable. It’s hard for a reader to follow all the new players and the recurring old ones (dramatis personae and internet recaps are a must).

***

“Now, prepare to ride – I shall lead, but I shall not once wait for you should you lose the way.”
“I thought you offered to guide me–“
“Of lesser priority now,” she said, smirking. “Inverted in a most unholy fashion, you might say. No, what I seek now is to witness. Do you understand? To witness!” And with that the girl spun round and sped off.
Swearing, the cutter drove heels into his mount’s flanks, hard on the girl’s tale. (pg.541)

***

The above excerpt seems something to reflect Erikson’s attitude/relationship towards the reader. (I've made an intentional lapsus linguae, which makes for a perfect pun)

Erikson’s writing is competent, but also bloated and overindulgent at times. His usage of extremities (larger-than-life characters, exponential magnitudes of suffering and misery,..) gradually leads to a dampening-effect with the reader; nothing seems extraordinary any more. I often speculated who would beat who in the book, but Erikson deftly avoids such ambiguity by carefully planted misdirection or just by simply avoiding the question at hand. I’m also glad that he lessened the amount of humor used in the story, which I felt was overdone and not really that funny in Midnight Tides.

Malazan Book of the Fallen has a set of constantly recurring themes: convergences in becoming (the foremost theme), chains/chaining (i.e. obligations, indebtedness), warmongery, misery (but which feels spread thin against all the power-struggles), anti-war sentimentality, power-struggles and so on. But we are also given something new to contemplate in The Bonehunters – the relationship between gods/ascendants and their followers. Is this relationship really one-sided or does it go both ways and is more arbitrary than we were lead to believe?

I’m aware that I made this book sound horrid, but which clearly it is not. It’s just that I have really, really high expectations of such a talented author as is Steven Erikson; I got the feeling that he let me down in some essential way. Ok, sure, the series is showing signs of wearing down, but no matter how jaded it gets, Erikson still weaves the most complex, multi-layered, multi-threaded and colossally epic fantasy tale to date – he upholds the throne of badassery.

4/5 ( )

Disclaimer: If you have not read the previous books in this series, don’t start here. It would be way too confusing, even having read all the previous books its still confusing. Also you either like or hate this series, better to find out at the beginning than the middle, no?

When gods go to war, it’s the mortals who suffer. And suffer mightily they do. Trying to explain this plot would take too long, and ruin the book. Needless to say all of the books from this series are beginning to be woven together. Sides are forming and you can feel a sense of the epic battles that are to come. That’s not meant to gloss over the huge battles that are in this book, which there are many. Gods are fighting and dying, everyone is being drawn into an epic struggle for the fate of everything in the world.
Character Development is ongoing. Every book progressively builds on every character, their motives, their secretive or forgotten pasts, their wants, needs, hopes. It’s amazing that with the multitudes of characters in Erikson’s books he is able to continually weave them into people you want to know more about.
The style of this book is hard to grasp at first. You have to be ready to read 50 pages on one or a group of characters, and then leave them for a while as you go to another group. All of them seem to be interconnected in some way and it’s great to see the opposing views of situations. Only problem with this method is keeping track of everyone and their names. Sometimes I had to refresh my memory of previous characters.
Not much I can say. If you’re a fan of this series you have already read this. If not, what’s your problem? :p ( )

The Bonehunters may have fewer moments of overpowering, myth-making storytelling than the previous four books, but it is nonetheless an astonishing book, and most importantly (for me anyway), it makes substantial progress on bringing together the disparate storylines of previous volumes and starting to build the series towards a climax and conclusion. Virtually all of the best surviving characters from previous volumes make an appearance, with Apsalar and Ganoes Paran getting a subtantial share of story (and for a brief period actually travelling together). And as this book moves towards its climax key characters face ethical decisions that will test their loyalties to the breaking point.

The first quarter of the book felt a bit flat to me, but from the beginning of the assault on Y'Ghatan through the pulse-pounding final confrontations on the streets of Malaz City (we finally get to see the home of the empire!) the pacing is superb. Erikson's battle scenes are very convincing. And even this far into the series he shows he can still take us to new places that are brilliantly imaginative and yet clearly fit within the Malazan world. Through six books I still believe that this is the best epic fantasy series being written today. ( )

http://www.skyseastone.net/jvstin/unj... ( )

We start off following on from House of Chains, looking at the army dealing with the aftermath of Sha'ik death in Raraku and the 14th Army. Apsalar also strikes a deal with Cotillion to kill a few more people and then be free of him.

As time goes by, however, things become appreciably more complex, well it's a Steven Erikson book, what did you expect?!

Ganoes Paran comes back, and becomes High Fist. Dujek dies, off-stage as he spent most of his career in the books so far. The 14th Army, well elements of it, go through hell and come back (in an earthly sense), and then they all go through hell in a more literal sense, particularly after making contact with the Tiste Edur from the Letheri Empire from Midnight Tides, and yet another new empire.

Add in a huge dose of very dirty politics mixed with bad judgments after personal tragedies, religious fundamentalism and more to finish the book and provide some interesting impetus for the next book or more, including a rematch between Icarium and Karsa Orlong, well it keeps going from strength to strength. ( )

Livejournal entry ( )

A Homer fanboy by his own admission, Steven Erikson's work is epic in the true sense of the word; tragic, poetic, and undeniably human. His huge, sprawling world is sculpted with a living, breathing history of hundreds and thousands of great and diverse characters, races, settings, faiths, convergences of power. Characters, be they Gods of great strength and trickery or brooding burdened mortals, begin shrouded in mystery yet gradually unfold to paint themselves upon the great canvas that is the plot, creating layer upon complex layer, ensuring their tiny part in something so much greater. Every path is held up by the bones of those who came before, the living thrive in the midst of dissolution and decay, the dead haunt all corners. From the intense, vivid scenes of war to the most personal of struggles, from the metaphor and Natural insight littering page after page to the masterful humour fashioning a balance with what can often be a very serious, dark and violent tale, the sheer humanity of this work renders it the most astounding piece of fantasy in decades. 5 stars. ( )

http://www.bookgeeks.co.uk/2008/02/18... ( )