Book Review: The Bonehunters by Steven Erikson (The Malazan Book of the Fallen book 6)

“When you've burned the bridges behind you, don't go starting a fire on the one in front of you.”

• Steven Erikson, The Bonehunters

People do all sorts of marathons; running marathons, eating marathons, swimming marathons etc.. Currently, I am doing a reading marathon. The challenge? Read all 10 books from an epic fantasy series called, The Malazan book of the Fallen. I am reading them back to back.

When I finally finish reading this series, I would have read 11,000 pages = 3.3 million words. Don't know about you, but I consider this an epic feat. If the author of this series, Steven Erikson, was committed to write 10 books, each 1000+ pages long, then as a fan of epic fantasy fictions, I am also prepared to commit myself to read all 10 of his books, and write a review for each individual book.

Does this reading marathon become a chore? Not for me. So far, I am enjoying these books tremendously, and I enjoy writing reviews for these books. It is with great pleasure, that I announce that I have finally finished reading the sixth book, The Bonehunters. Without further delay, let me start reviewing this book.

Synopsis:

The story in The Bonehunters follows directly after the events in the fourth book, The House of Chains.

The Malazan army has triumphed over the Whirlwind Rebellion in the Seven Cities. Led by Adjunt Tavore Paran, the Malazan 14^th army is on a warpath to eliminate the fleeing forces of the Whirlwind Rebellion. The remaining forces of the rebellion is led by Leoman of the Flails, and they fled westward, seeking refuge in the city of Y'Ghatan. In the meantime, following the aftermath in book 3, Memories of Ice, Onearm Dujeck's force has been restored, and they were charged by Empress Laseen to aid Tavore on her mission to eliminate the remaining rebellion forces. As Onearm's host marched, a deadly plague of mysterious origin met them, killing many and greatly reduced the fighting power of Onearm's army. In order to deal with this deadly plague, Ganoes Paran, the new master for Deck of Dragons, was summoned to the Seven Cities. These events will not only determine the fate of the Seven Cities, but will also bring about a shift of power all the way back on the imperial throne at the Malaz city.

In the meantime, Icarium the Lifestealer and Karsa Orlong of the Toblakai, are about to be recruited and travel to the kingdom of Lether, to face Rhulad, the emperor of thousand deaths...

What I think about this book:

There is this thing called the “middle book syndrome”. This problem plagued many great book series. The Malazan Book of the Fallen is not immune to this unfortunate phenomenon. It was going to happen sooner or later, and the middle book syndrome occurred at The Bonehunters.

I really enjoy the previous 5 books, but for some reason, I found the story in The Bonehunters scatters all over the place, and lacks coherence in terms of storytelling. There are too many story arcs here, the cast of characters too large, the philosophical reflections too many... this is a very dense book, and it is not an easy read.

Granted, the Malazan books were never easy to read. Every book in the past had large cast of characters, multiple story arcs, and plenty of philosophical reflections, but in The Bonehunters, these complexities are multiplied to the magnitude where, it is really difficult to keep track of the stories, and it is downright confusing. Made worse by the fact that most story arcs in this book are trying to connect previous books to the next instalment. This means most story arcs have characters travelling from one place to the next, with much “filler” information bridging the gaps.

This is not to say that The Bonehunters is a bad book. While this book is weaker compared to the previous book, Midnight Tides, Steven Erikson's writing is still excellent, revealing important information crucial to the future books in this series. In The Bonehunters, there are 2 truly memorable moments, one occurred at the siege of Y'Ghatan, the second memorable moment occurred in the last 100 pages of the book. These 2 moments are brilliantly written, the story told with vivid descriptions of sceneries, and full of heart pounding actions and thrills.

In my reviews for previous books, I wrote that each book in the Malazan series has a theme. The Bonehunters carries this tradition. In this book, the story explored the theme of religious fanaticism. This is a thought provoking, fascinating and most relevant topic, especially in an era post the tragedy of 911, where the general public is exposed to the reality of religious fundamentalism, brining more awareness to it, because we have all witnessed the tragedy it can bring.

I am really happy I have finished reading The Bonehunters. This book brought the multiple story arcs from previous books to a converging point, setting up for the inevitable, monumental clashes which are bound to take place in the next book, Reaper's Gale. I can't wait to start reading Reaper's Gale and find out the fates of my favourite characters in this series.

Until next time, thank you for reading my review.