Bauchelain and Korbal Broach, Volume 1

Tthis is a collection of 3 novellas set in the same world as Steven Erikson's epic 10-volume Malazan Book of the Fallen. They were originally written by Erikson as a kind of palette-cleansing exercise between his door-stopper books and its clear that he's having a great deal of fun with them. They feature the psychotic necromancers Bauchelain & Korbal Broach who roam from city to city conducting their experiments into the dark arts while waited upon by their luckless manservant, Emancipoor Reese who frequently finds himself in the middle of whatever mess their actions (or the actions of others) have created. Its kind of a combination of Fawlty Towers, Jack the Ripper, P.G. Wodehouse and the Call of Cthulhu.

The three novellas are 'Blood show more Follows', in which Emancipoor Reese first gets hired, 'The Lees of Laughter's End' which consists of the most outrageous farcical happenings when B & KB take passage on a haunted ship (whose crew includes a bunch of thieves pretending to be sailors who have stolen some artifacts best left untouched). The third novella is the, in my mind, somewhat weak 'The Healthy Dead' when B & KB come upon a city ruled by a sect of fanatic knights devoted to "wellness and health" (sort of fitness freaks and advocate of healthy living taken to the extreme!) Of course B & KB set about trying to bring an end to their reign of (healthy) terror!

A thoroughly entertaining collection, though its worth cautioning that the novellas don't necessarily give a good introduction to Erikson's longer works, and there may be some minor confusion for readers unfamiliar with the Malazan world (what's a 'Soultaken', etc.?) show less

Bauchelain and Korbal Broach are three novellas set in the world of Erikson's epic Malazan Books of the Fallen. These characters are first encountered in the 3rd book of that series. These stories are vastly different in tone than the main series, more of a dark satire, and work as stand alone stories, though having some knowledge of the Malazan world is helpful.

The first novella, Blood Follows, is the story of how Emancipor Reece came to be employed by two homicidal necromancers, Bauchelain and Korbal Broach. The second story, The Lees of Laughter's End, picks up right after the first as the group sets sail on a ship as far away as they can get. Unfortunately for them, or perhaps that is fortunate, the ship appears to be haunted. The show more third story, The Healthy Dead, is set a few years later when our anti-heroes come across a city fanatically and forcefully dedicated to health and well-being, so much so that it may lead to the end of civilization. This naturally sets Bauchelain on the noble task of confounding the end of civilization, if only for the challenge of it.

The stories were weird, creepy, dark, sometimes funny and well written. The level of detail found in Erikson's other works is also present in these stories. I found each story progressively more entertaining. There is quite a bit of gore, which is to be expected when the title characters are necromancers. This could be a fun reread for Halloween. show less

I had never read any of the books in the Malazan Empire series by Steven Erikson, but I was intrigued by the heroes / anti-heroes of these 3 novellas. And Erikson didn't disappoint me. Korbal Broach is rather Psychotic, while Bauchelain is a necromancer that I would give my life to NEVER, EVER meet. But at the same time, these two thoroughly evil men (along with manservant Emanciapator Reese) are just so interesting to read about and besides, one is never "quite" sure that those whom they are fighting against aren't actually "more" evil than our two necromantic heroes are.

A fun read, though Bauchelain and Broach are a great fit to the short story genre, I am not sure that a full length novel would be a good fit, the conceit might wear show more on the reader. But I really do look forward to reading more of the adventures of Bauchelain and Korbal Broach (along with their hapless and yet also "helpful" manservant Emanciapator Reese). show less

After finishing The Malazan Book of the Fallen I had one Steven Erikson book left in the series, 'The First Collected Tales of Bauchelain and Korbal Broach'. Bauchelain and Korbal Broach are the two necromancers, accompanied by their manservant Emancipor Reece, who we first met in 'Memories of Ice'. Because their arrival always coincides with the nightly disappearance of people in the town, they are forced to travel from town to town, from land to land. In this collection there are three novellas ('Blood Follows', 'The Healthy Dead' and 'The Lees of Laughter's End') that tell the story of how Emancipor Reece came to work for them, their journey over the seas and how they saved a country from a good king.
The stories are nowhere near as show more dark and serious as those in the main series by Erikson. They are filled with murder, demons, gods, magic, strange creatures and more. And they have a lot more humor. They are a great addition to the series, and for me were four out of five stars. show less

Desire for goodness, Mister Reese, leads to earnestness. Earnestness in turn leads to sanctimonious selfrighteousness, which breeds intolerance, upon which harsh judgment quickly follows, yielding dire punishment, inflicting general terror and paranoia, eventually culminating in revolt, leading to chaos, then dissolution, and thus, the end of civilisation.
(The Healthy Dead)

This edition is odd in a number of ways. It's an omnibus containing three of Erikson's novellas: Blood Follows, The Healthy Dead, and The Lees of Laughter's End, and the strangeness begins with the fact that the stories are presented in the edition out of order from their order of publication (and supposed order within the Malazan series). The book presents them Blood show more Follows first, The Lees of Laughter's End second, and The Healthy Dead last. Stranger still, the introduction written by James Barclay to The Lees of Laughter's End is presented at the very beginning of the book, which can throw you off since it's neither the first novella in the edition, nor the first chronologically.

Curiouser and curiouser.

The novellas themselves are entertaining, though I would say not quite up to par with the writing I generally expect of Steven Erikson. I might classify these as more for Erikson's amusement than that of the dedicated Malazan reader. Each one stands alone sufficiently well that you could read them out of order with the Malazan books, but some general knowledge of the Malazan world would not be amiss. Likewise, there is nothing contained in the novellas that is necessary to understanding or keeping up with the major threads of the Malazan books. In fact, reading these novellas will probably not be a valuable use of time for any but the most dedicated of Malazan fans, who wish to read them for completeness' sake. In general, I'm not a huge fan of the short story format, nor the novella, so predictably I was underwhelmed by the stories contained in this edition.

Blood Follows: A mildly entertaining story, portraying the beginning of the hapless manservant Emancipor Reese's involvement with the necromancers Bauchelain and Korbal Broach. More valuable for its humor than any originality or unique insight in the story-line, I had a hard time really getting into this one. Even the humor isn't as dry and dark as what I've come to expect from Erikson. 3 stars

The Healthy Dead: This novella, with it's opening warning to "lifestyle fascists" not to read it lest they blind themselves, from the beginning has great promise. Raunchy humor, raw satire, with a ridiculous ending to round it out. Easily my favorite of the three. 4.5 stars

The Lees of Laughter's End: This one I just didn't get. I really got nothing out of reading it. There may have been a few mildly entertaining lines, but nothing is springing to mind - and I just finished it. Given that I splurged and bought the standalone edition of Crack'd Pot Trail, I hope it holds up better. 2 stars. show less

I had never read any of the books in the Malazan Empire series by Steven Erikson, but I was intrigued by the heroes / anti-heroes of these 3 novellas. And Erikson didn't disappoint me. Korbal Broach is rather Psychotic, while Bauchelain is a necromancer that I would give my life to NEVER, EVER meet. But at the same time, these two thoroughly evil men (along with manservant Emanciapator Reese) are just so interesting to read about and besides, one is never "quite" sure that those whom they are fighting against aren't actually "more" evil than our two necromantic heroes are.

A fun read, though Bauchelain and Broach are a great fit to the short story genre, I am not sure that a full length novel would be a good fit, the conceit might wear show more on the reader. But I really do look forward to reading more of the adventures of Bauchelain and Korbal Broach (along with their hapless and yet also "helpful" manservant Emanciapator Reese). show less

I had never read any of the books in the Malazan Empire series by Steven Erikson, but I was intrigued by the heroes / anti-heroes of these 3 novellas. And Erikson didn't disappoint me. Korbal Broach is rather Psychotic, while Bauchelain is a necromancer that I would give my life to NEVER, EVER meet. But at the same time, these two thoroughly evil men (along with manservant Emanciapator Reese) are just so interesting to read about and besides, one is never "quite" sure that those whom they are fighting against aren't actually "more" evil than our two necromantic heroes are.

A fun read, though Bauchelain and Broach are a great fit to the short story genre, I am not sure that a full length novel would be a good fit, the conceit might wear show more on the reader. But I really do look forward to reading more of the adventures of Bauchelain and Korbal Broach (along with their hapless and yet also "helpful" manservant Emanciapator Reese). show less