The Bonehunters

[Lenny]

My sixth thread, and a sixth helping of glowing praise - The Bonehunters displaced DHG as my favourite book, and for good reason too!

Before I forget - the usual applies, please: no spoilers for the rest of the series (all one published books of it ), and a warning to anyone who is reading the thread that it will probably contain spoilers from GotM right through to, and including, The Bonehunters.

First, methinks I'll mention the epic 127 page chapter about the breaking of the seige of Y'Ghatan. Absolutely fantastic! Almost as good as the last few hundred pages.

There were other things I know I wanted to drool over, but I don't know if I can remember them; I have a terrible memory sometimes.

Oh, one of the last things said before the start of the fourth part of the book - Tavore says to the marines who survived Y'Ghatan that they are "truly Bonehunters" now. I can see why Rane thought they got the name in House of Chains, but it only seems formal now, and might be cemented well and truly in RG (don't tell me!!).

I'm starting to wonder what part, if any, the moon plays in the whole saga. I picked up on Apsalar imagining that the moon had gardens (hence the name of the first book... which I probably missed when reading it), and later on the moon started doing some weird things, not least using people as target practice. Methinks I also read right that the Crippled God might have fallen from the moon, which sets me thinking... will the moon prove important to things in the last few books?

That's about it for things I can remember. They might come to me later, and if not, I'm sure someone else will mention them.

EDIT: Oooh, there's one - Kalam. My thoughts are that he'll either ascend, or we won't see anything of him until we see more of Rallick Nom. And talking about Rallick, whatever happened to his cousin from HoC? Surely he's not just disappeared completely?

 

[Rane Longfox]

You're romping through them, aren't you Glad you liked this one - even more than most people did, it would seem. I'd agree chapter 7 (Y'Ghatan) was probably one of the best single chapters in the series so far.


I've always thought the moon would come to have a big part in this series, even from the very beginning, when Apsalar mentioned how powerful it is. The CG didn't come from there though - the Jade Giants which crashed into it came from the rent that the CG ripped when he fell, so why would it be further away than where he came from in the first place?


As for Kalam... well, yes. Speculation abounds with that one, but just imagine Rallick, Vorcan and Kalam working together for the Azath... scary thought.

 

[Green]

Have to admit I wasn't a fan of Bonehunters - too many A-list cast in there, and SE physically could not spend the proper amount of time with any of them (hence the large-even-for-Erikson amount of POV shifting in the book). Plus, Karsa got to do approximately ****-all the entire book. After HoC, that's a real disappointment.

Dev is a character created entirely so that we don't have to spend much time in Karsa's head. SE has run out of ideas for his favourite character, I think. We'll see what the last three books have in store for him, but I'm guessing "not a lot".

Even though it didn't stand up to the rest of his books (except RG, which I thought was worse), I still enjoyed it.

As for Kalam - Erikson will seriously be doing his characters a disservice if he keeps killing them off, only to have them come back. Let Kalam rest. He's done enough.

 

[Valko]

I loved Bonehunters but I get the feeling I'm not going to like Reapers Gale.
It's been sitting untouched on my bedside cabinet for months now.

 

[DarrellR]

I loved Bonehunters but I get the feeling I'm not going to like Reapers Gale.
It's been sitting untouched on my bedside cabinet for months now.

I know I have heard some say that they thought Reaper's Gale wasn't that good or maybe not "as" good as the previous books but I found myself actually enjoying it. It gave me that 'I can't put it down' feeling. Course now I have put myself in a hole since I have to wait for Toll of the Hounds. Then again Iam Esslemont (sp) has put out Night of Knives and has Return of the Crimson Guard coming out in the next months.

 

[Valko]

I know I have heard some say that they thought Reaper's Gale wasn't that good or maybe not "as" good as the previous books but I found myself actually enjoying it. It gave me that 'I can't put it down' feeling. Course now I have put myself in a hole since I have to wait for Toll of the Hounds. Then again Iam Esslemont (sp) has put out Night of Knives and has Return of the Crimson Guard coming out in the next months.

On that reccomendation I'll give it a whirl. NoK was an excellent read, can't wait for Crimson Guard. I didn't have high hopes for ICE but I think I actually like his style of writing more than Erikson's in some ways.

 

[Rane Longfox]

Apparently, from those who have read RotCG already (the super-special £75 limited edition was dispatched recently), ICE more than holds his own, and it's an excellent book as well as a great set-up for Toll the Hounds

However there are millions of proof-reading errors

 

[Valko]

Apparently, from those who have read RotCG already (the super-special £75 limited edition was dispatched recently), ICE more than holds his own, and it's an excellent book as well as a great set-up for Toll the Hounds

However there are millions of proof-reading errors

Thanks for the info Rane.
I didn't realise it was out, PS don't seem to have a date for the hardcover version? £75 for the slipcover is a tad too much for me

 

[Rane Longfox]

The mass market release by Bantam is scheduled for sometime in August, I believe.

 

[nixie]

Rereading this at moment, even better second time round.

 

[Lenny]

I agree with you there! I re-read it last year, in the run up to DoD, and I loved it even more than I did the first time. There's something strangely surreal about it, which makes it fantastic, and the seige of Y'Ghatan! Bliss!

Definitely still one of my favourite. I'm considering doing another re-read of the series in the run up to The Crippled God - can't have too much Malazan.

 

[Gamblor]

Just thought I'd stop in and give my two cents worth as I just finished this one.

The first half I found slow and up until half way I was thinking this was the worst of a magnificent series but then the second (for me) picked up considerably and I started to remember why I love this epic.

What an awesome climax - Erikson really shows us how to invest in characters and the clashes in the last few hundred pages had me begging for more. Trull, what a guy! Quick Ben - love him.

I hope RG can deliver as well!

Best

Gamblor

 

[ddolan]

As with the Black Company novels, I think at least 3 or 4 readings is necessary to truly appreciate them. I'm almost done with Bonehunters and skipped Midnight Tides when I saw that no Bridgeburners where in it. I'll go back but I hope I didn't mess up.

 

[ddolan]

Quick Ben is Great. Still am not sure if better the One-eye and Goblin from Black Company. I swear these two authors are in the same world. Just too many coincidences. It's like 1 guy dropped too much acid and went into a room with a typewriter and 2 guys came out. In different dimensions and times of course.

 

[nixie]

You haven't messed up but I'd strongly recommend reading it or you'll be a little confused with the later books.

Second best in series after Memories of Ice is Midnight Tides.

Happily skips away with found memories of first meeting Tehol and Bugg.

 

[ddolan]

You haven't messed up but I'd strongly recommend reading it or you'll be a little confused with the later books.

Second best in series after Memories of Ice is Midnight Tides.

Happily skips away with found memories of first meeting Tehol and Bugg.

Thanks for info. I'll probably end up reading the whole series 3 or 4 more times. The dialogue is sometimes so funny that I re-read whole a page out loud.When I was younger I never though I would re-read a book. Let alone a series. Now I can think books I have read at least 10 times. I know it's an SFF forum but "The Gates of Fire" by Steven Pressfield is one. What was weird, was the fact that not only had I never heard of the battle, but a few months after reading it they made that movie "300". I don't think the movie was based on the book though. Too many differences. But now a whole generation will think it was really 300 vs 300,000. It's like the movie "Braveheart". When I learned what William Wallace was really like I was stunned. And I'm VERY distantly related to him. Gods I wish I lived in the UK or somewhere with some history. Sorry to digress...... I want to post a new thread regarding everyone's opinions about best and worst all time SFF Books. I'm sure it's been done here somewhere but I need to find the right place.

 

[Pedro Del Mar]

I'm finding The Bonehunters very frustrating and I'm very surprised to see it regarded so highly and people placing it higher on their lists than previous novels in the series. I'm three quarters of the way through and it's taken me months because it keeps sending me to sleep. I'm finding it the least rewarding of the Malazan novels I've read to date. I agree the siege of Y'Ghatan was excellent and had me hooked, but the build up to this was slow, and since it's happened the book seems to be skipping from one character to another without anything really happening at all. I feel like I could have skipped at least a third of this novel and it wouldn't have mattered in terms of the storyline. I'm hoping the last quarter of the novel improves and is of a similar quality to the Y'Ghatan chapter. I'm very much looking forward to finishing this novel and starting on the next in the series Reaper's Gale.

 

[Fedos]

You can be assured that Erikson will end The Bonehunters on an explosive note. If there's one thing I don't fault Erikson over, it's his endings. And you are right about how exhilarating the siege of Y'Ghatan was, truly a highlight of the book and a chapter that clocked in at over 100 pages. Here's hoping you find the rest of the book to have a satisfying conclusion and the series as a whole.

 

[Pedro Del Mar]

Thanks Fedos, you were absolutely spot on - the ending was magnificent! The siege of Y'Ghatan and the final few chapters made the book. Incredible chapters without a doubt.

I'm giving Erikson a little rest for now. A few other authors to catch up on before I pick up Reapers Gale

 

[Judderman]

I just finished The Bonehunters. What a brilliant book! So good to have so many of the interesting major characters in it, with some interesting storylines. The action is excellent. The last couple of hundred of pages are particularly good. Both the Malaz City and the Edur stuff. The depressing thoughts in parts of the series are not too common in the second half of Bonehunters other than Fiddler's dirge. Also I'm glad I took the recommended reading order and read Esslemont's Knight of Knives before this. The background to Malaz City and the Empire really helps set the tone for this.