Erikson: The Bonehunters

[Lord Baelish]

I didn't think there were that many cliffhangers at all

SPOILER: TBH

I mean, Tavore had her confrontation with Laseen and that had some sort of resolution with the army leaving the empire. Icarium had his rage but it settled down again, and they are now heading to Lether. Same goes for Karsa. In fact, his storyline didn't build up to anything remotely resembling a cliffhanger. It's not as if we don't know whether he's alive or where he's headed, after all. Mappo going in pursuit of Icarium, I never expected that to be resolved in this book, because they wouldn't really have been separated that long otherwise.

[Rhaco]

My copy came... but I got 2 of them, packaged separately. I didn't order 2. What the hell? I thought maybe I'd accidentally ordered 2 from Amazon.co.uk, but I just checked their website and that's not the case. I then checked my credit card and I was only charged for 1. So it would appear I got a free copy.

Decision time. Do I do the right thing and notify Amazon of their error or do I return 1 copy for a refund?

[Lord Baelish]

Or be really nice and gift it to a friend. I'm sure there are lots of people on this board that would love you if you sent it to them.

[Caligula_K]

My copy came... but I got 2 of them, packaged separately. I didn't order 2. What the hell? I thought maybe I'd accidentally ordered 2 from Amazon.co.uk, but I just checked their website and that's not the case. I then checked my credit card and I was only charged for 1. So it would appear I got a free copy.

Decision time. Do I do the right thing and notify Amazon of their error or do I return 1 copy for a refund?

I think the right thing to do would be to send it to me.

[Rhaco]

Well, strangely for me, I chose the "do the right thing" option, and here's their reply:

Thank you for contacting Amazon.co.uk.

Firstly, please allow me to apologise for this apparent mix-up during

packing.

Rest assured that you have been charged only once for this item.

However, as the cost of returning the package is in this case

prohibitively expensive, we ask that you keep the extra item with our

compliments. Perhaps you would like to donate it to a charity in your

area if you feel it would be appropriate to do so.

Please accept our sincere apologies for the inconvenience we have

caused you. We hope that you will allow us another opportunity to

prove the quality of our service to you in the future.

Pretty cool. Not sure what to do with the free copy. I think I'll give it to a local library. They've been buying the series as it's published here in the US, so they wouldn't normally have TBH for another two years or whatever. Or is it cruel to tempt the local library goers with TBH when HOC and MT aren't available?

Oh, and I'm only 30 pages into TBH, but I'm loving it so far. It'd be an exaggeration to say I was disappointed by MT and The Healthy Dead, but I did like them less than the first 4 main books. TBH seems a return to form, at least so far.

[Werthead]

Think carefully about this. You give it to the library, people pick it up to read it, realise they're missing two books, demand the library gets them in, they refuse, the library gets burned to the ground by an irate mob. Do you want that on your conscience?

But good result there. I need to press on with TBH. Progress very disappointing given I've had the book for a week on Monday. Only just passing page 200

[delete this account pls]

Not sure what to do with the free copy. I think I'll give it to a local library.

If by "local library" you mean me, then yes. Yes, that is the right thing to do.

[Calibandar]

It's nice to see everyone so willing to help Rhaco out with his problem; really, it returns my faith in humanity.

[Jerol]

I just want to point out that I hate all of you that have copies of BH. May the Hounds of Shadow set upon your Saved Favorites..., may the Chained God infect your hard drives... :cry: :mad:

[Lupigis]

Read it in gulps over the period of the last week. Hated the philosophising. Loved the ending, everything from Fiddlers card game and on was brilliant. I'm totally confused about many things since I don't reread these books and thus don't remember all the characters. Will Kalam live? I'm betting he will, but how? Did Tavore already know about Ganoes when Fiddler told her?

[Xanrn]

Read it in gulps over the period of the last week. Hated the philosophising. Loved the ending, everything from Fiddlers card game and on was brilliant. I'm totally confused about many things since I don't reread these books and thus don't remember all the characters. Will Kalam live? I'm betting he will, but how? Did Tavore already know about Ganoes when Fiddler told her?

Yeah she didn't seem to react much, consindering the last thing she was told was he was dead...

Fesilin Younger turning herself into Fesilin the Hutt to destroy the rebellion...

On the topic of Ganoes Paran, besides from one line about his "beast eyes" where the fuck was Dog Boy Paran. I wanted to see him eat something again.

Kalam was dragged into the Deadhouse so is like Rallick Nom and his Guild Mistress and Dassem's Daughter, frozen in time on the floor.

Rallick and his Boss are Paran's servants and still lying on the floor till he wants to use them, Dassems daughter has been lying on the floor for sometime (she is the woman in Deadhouse Gates) and so Kalam is probably Hoods servant or something...

[Lupigis]

Kalam was dragged into the Deadhouse so is like Rallick Nom and his Guild Mistress and Dassem's Daughter, frozen in time on the floor.

Rallick and his Boss are Paran's servants and still lying on the floor till he wants to use them, Dassems daughter has been lying on the floor for sometime (she is the woman in Deadhouse Gates) and so Kalam is probably Hoods servant or something...

Hood's servant? Why him instead of Ganoes Paran? Also, is there any obvious reason why Paran can't discover Kalam, recruit a suitable God/high Denul healer, wake Kalam up and instantly heal him before he dies completely, thus turning him back to life again? Kalam could then be reinserted into the action at a suitable Azath house.

[Whiskeyjack]

Its mine, its mine, its all mine!!! MWHAHAHAHAHA!!!! Its finally in my hands!

I'll be back to comment after I've finished the book.

[werewolfv2]

so far Im abit over 100 pages in and loving it!

[EHK for Darwin]

Is Bonehunters modern day? Does it follow the usual cast of characters?

Cause the 500 page prequel Midnight Tides had me bored to tears...tossed it into the dust been of 'maybe I'll read someday' novels after about 100 pages. Wondering if this one will be worth picking up.

[Slick Mongoose]

Is Bonehunters modern day? Does it follow the usual cast of characters?

Yes - but it also follows on from Midnight Tides.

[Lord Baelish]

Yeah, it picks up from where House of Chains left off, but also integrates some of the Midnight Tides characters as well. And MT is really worth reading in its own right, not just as part of the series, because it is a really good book (although it probably is my least favourite of the series, it still beats 99% of fantasy out there).

[Rhaco]

Finished last night. Loved it. TBH really does begin to pull all the disparate threads together -- there were characters or elements in TBH from every Malazan book so far, excepting only The Healthy Dead. If I were to rank the six main Erikson Malazan books, I'd put TBH after books 1-3 but ahead of HOC and MT.

Some random thoughts, questions, and things that interested me off the top of my head:

SPOILER: TBH

Dragons are aspected and the source of sorcery. So if all the dragons aspected to a certain kind of sorcery are killed, that sorcery dies too? Or was the Shaping of the Blood only needed initially, meaning that sorcery would still work? I think it could be read either way, but I'm guessing the former is the case.

Osric is aspected to Serc, and sits that warren's throne. Should've been obvious since he's been listed as the Lord of the Sky since GOTM, I think, but it never occurred to me. I always just associated him with Kurald Thyrllan. Speaking of which...

I'm not sure that 'Kurald Liosan' was a mistake. Almost seemed as if Kurald Liosan is just another name for Kurald Thyrllan.

The Elder Gods are elemental forces, existing since the time of Darkness. More, we apparently have two new Elder Gods: Edgewalker (previously appeared in NOK, but I don't think there was any indication there that he was an Elder God) and Grizzin Farl (unless he was mentioned in MT which I've yet to reread?).

A tyrant (presumably the original one) will return to Darujhistan. The Seguleh were that Tyrant's army... and the T'orrud Cabal were/are apparently his undying mage cadre. Barukanal=Baruk, Derudanith=Derudan, Travalegrah=Travale (dead), Mammoltenan=Mammot (dead), ???=Paral (dead), and ???=Tholas (dead). Hope this Tyrant wasn't counting on his Cabal much since he's down to no more than 5 of them.

Rake's Tiste Andii apparently got some revenge in the Shadow Realm for Scabandari's betrayal of Ruin's Andii. Nice. And when some dragons tried to claim the Throne of Shadow, Rake "over-reacted" and took them down, nearly killing them. God I love Rake. Speaking of the Andii, I was disappointed that Ahlrada Ahn died... I was hoping that after he'd learned that Rake was in the mortal realm that his next course of action would be to head to Black Coral. Hopefully Rake gets to Bluerose eventually.

We get a little more info on the Deragoth mystery. They were a race going extinct, and Dessimbelackis rounded up the last seven. Question about Paran's freeing of the remaining Deragoth: that Jaghut underworld, pre-Holds death realm beyond the Bridge... that's obviously not the Nascent. So how were the same statues of the Deragoth in both places? Just another instance of Shadow (the Nascent) overlapping another realm, allowing for the statues of the Deragoth to be present in both? Or maybe there are simply statues in multiple realms and the Deragoth could've been freed via any of them, who knows.

Why didn't Shadowthrone just pull the destroyed throne act on the T'lan Imass First Throne? Seemed to have worked fairly well with the true Throne of Shadow. Speaking of Drift Avalii, that was fairly disappointing... I was hoping to see Dassem again.

It was nice that Spite's and Mappo's philosophizing was backed up by an actual occurrence: D'rek killing her own priests.

Icarium is awesome, and that's that.

Coltaine. Been a lot of complaints on this board about him not dying. If that conversation between Shadowthrone and Tayschrenn is any indication, the Coltaine we knew is indeed gone. He'll presumably grow up to be the same type of guy, but that's it.

The Imperial warren is possibly the K'Chain warren? K'Chain reappearing all over the place could make things interesting, though I'm not sure I'm pleased by the revelation that the Short-Tails have symbiotic machines in their bodies. That they're mechanically inclined is cool, but this is just a little too sci-fi or something, I don't know.

Loved the humor in TBH. A much better balance than in MT. I could've done without Curdle and Telorast, though. Speaking of which, any thoughts as to what throne they sat? Do they even remember that they were dragons?

The whole Eres'al thing is a bit confusing, as the jade statues in space thing continue to be. Speaking of which...

Heboric. A bit odd how fast he apparently deteriorated between HOC and TBH. Not that it didn't make sense that he was slipping again. But that he was made his demise a little easier. That little storyline -- Heboric, Cutter, Scillara and Felisin Younger's -- was the least interesting to me. Questions regarding Heboric: He discovers that he's the Shield Anvil of Treach or of some other power? He apparently took the pain away from the prisoners of at least those fragments of jade, which is an obvious Good Thing, but did that act help re: what apparently would've been a cataclysmic meteor shower? What exactly happened there? Hood kicked Heboric out of his realm, returning him to his body, and then Heboric awakened and was able to draw the jade meteor shower to himself and Otataral Island?

A bunch of new Deck-type stuff:

1) High House of War. Is this an official House yet? Wouldn't Ganoes have to sanction it first? Who's the Army/Soldier? The 14th Army?

2) The missing Seguleh Second is the Soldier of Death, and he's after Skinner. I wonder if this is something Esslemont will run with in his Crimson Guard book.

3) How do the Wolves of Winter have two sets of mortal representatives? One set for Togg and one for Fanderay? I guess there's nothing that says a god can't have more than one champion, high priest, etc. Actually kinda makes sense that a god would need that level of representation in more than one area, particularly areas as far apart as Genabackis and the Nemil/Shal-Morzinn/Perish continent.

[Werthead]

I agree that reading Midnight Tides is essential to understanding WTF is going on in the series. MT is the fulcrum around which the rest of the story shifts and explains a lot of stuff that has been going on since Deadhouse Gates (especially about the Nascent and the random Tiste Edur popping up here and there). However, it's the slowest book in the series and doesn't really kick into gear until about halfway through.

Other Bonehunters revelations (but less cataclysmic).

SPOILER: TBH

The Malazan Empire knows about the continent Assail but hasn't made any military moves there yet.

The Malazan campaign on Korelri is collapsing like a pack of cards. The Korelri Compact is threatening to retake the original staging ground for the invasion, Theft Island. The Malazans maintain a massive defensive fortification on Korelri's north coast called the Stormwall which is under constant attack by a race of sea-spirits known as the Stormriders. Malazan soldiers assigned to the Stormwall are not expected to return and are never reassigned elsewhere.

There are pretty heavy hints that the Malazan Empire only responds with military force if attacked first.

Technically, the Malazan Empire and the Letherii Empire are now at war since the Tiste Edur slaughtered the population of Sepik and launched unprovoked attacks on Malazan shipping. However, the current situation with the Empress and the knowledge that the Malazan Empire plays no further major role in the remaining novels means that this will probably not unfold any further in future novels.

Icarium's condition is curable! And Iskaral Pust seems to know how to do it. In addition, Pust is the Magi in High House Shadow.

Paran and Hedge reveal the secret of Ascendency: that there's no rules for it and it just kind of randomly happens and the moment there's more Ascendents then there should be, but no worries, the forthcoming apocalyptic war from hell will annihilate a lot of them.

Revelations about the Deragoth and their relationship with the Hounds of Shadow, plus the tyrant of Darujhistan (the same human tyrant the T'lan Imass are fighting on Assail?), plus Paran's various musings on the situation with the surviving Bridgeburners and Duiker, all set up Book 8: Toll the Hounds quite nicely.

Book 7: Reaper's Gale, follows directly on from The Bonehunters from the look of it, which may be the first time this happens in the series.

[Calibandar]

Interesting stuff about the new House of War. What are the card names/positions and who are thought to fit the role ( is this the "Life Slayer" " Death Slayer'" thing that's been mentioned?)