Reviews

The Bonehunters by Steven Erikson

fiddler76's review against another edition

5.0

Absolutely brilliant book, this series just continues to stun. Straight to the next book now, can't read anything else until I complete the full series! 7 stars!!

Re-read in 2019 - this is straight up one of the best books of all time. A 7 star book in a 6 star series.

mtarakaki's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

zrals's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

Saying too much about any one Malazan novel is always risking spoilers, but my series rule holds true: my least favorite Malazan novel is the first 150 pages of any Malazan novel; my favorite is the following 600 pages. In this case, following 1000 pages.

The Bonehunters knows it's in the second half of a massive series, and it begins to cash checks that Erikson wrote thousands of pages before. It's finally, comfortably out of the exposition phase, and it's worth the wait - if you've made it this far, you absolutely will not be disappointed. More than any of the Malazan novels so far, this one is full of major events from start to finish. It's 1200 very full pages, so it feels like a long haul, but it also gives you more of a sense of where the plot is going.

It's another confident, moving, and impressively busy entry to The Book of the Fallen.
 

zeph1337's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Well, this was one hell of a ride. It is somehow both the longest Malazan book yet but also it went by the fastest for me, finishing it in just about 10 days. 

The book immediately grabbed my attention with its first part/book where we just got to check in with loads of characters we previously met and in general just all around favorite characters of the whole series. The humor in book 1 was especially strong with its main source being two new side characters accompanying Apsalar. There is also something to be said about the fact that this is the first book in the series where we don’t get introduced to something completely new in the beginning. Just makes you feel right at home.

Book 2 is where things get crazy where our main story is the siege of a city and that whole sequence got super tense and gripping and the whole thing just felt like an epic climax in the middle of the book and as a result I just breezed through large chunks of this book unable to stop. 

The third book kind of pulled me back down again. It felt more of a mixed bag overall with things dragging a bit and other things just felt like they were going nowhere or even feeling a little unnecessary to be told. It was still balanced well enough with epic sequences and great character moments that I overall still enjoyed it. Also I’m pretty sure that it was by far the shortest of all the books so it didn’t make that much of a dent in the overall enjoyment of the whole book. 

Now let’s get to the heart of the book. The final part or as it is self titled within the book (and also used a lot by Malazan fans): The convergence! And yes everything came together in a totally epic way. The stakes are immensely high and you feel like everything can happen at any point in time and the superb pacing of it all, which honestly can be said about almost the whole book, just makes you breeze through it, unable to stop and just wanting to know what crazy thing is gonna happen next.  

What I especially loved about The Bonehunters: There has been so much build up in the previous five books and they all had their own separate great climaxes. But it can’t really be compared to this one as it just brings almost everything that happened so far in the whole series together. There is just not really much time “wasted” introducing new stuff. We are just reaping the benefits of everything that happened before and it is fantastic.

I was already excited to read Reaper’s Gale after I finished Midnight Tides but that feeling just multiplied tenfold. I mean I am also very close to finishing my other current read (The Expanse #4) but I just didn’t do that because I wanted so much more to see how this all unfolds. 

Not sure I’ll be able to keep my “One Malazan book a month pace”. Now I feel like I wanna go faster than that. :) 

I also think that whole feeling of “super-excitement” for the next book makes The Bonehunters my new favorite Malazan book.

darylpuppy's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

jackw2610's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

eoinmonty's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark hopeful sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

jolyon_l's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Another extremely good book in this series, more things to love, get confused by, delve into, theorise, it's all here. I can't wait to finish this masterpiece of an epic fantasy series.

The creation of the Bonehunters in Y'ghatan, the travels of Karsa, the glimpses into Tavore and T'amber, the confusing yet colourful ending convergence, and so much more are all just 'chefs kiss'

joeymoreau88's review against another edition

5.0

This is quite possibly my favorite book. It's been a few years since I've read this, so I'd like to revisit it and write a review that truly does it justice.

The siege on Y'Ghatan was an absolute marvel to behold, and the ending returned the series to its roots; a true masterpiece not only for the genre, but a literary achievement in its own right.

projectmemo's review against another edition

5.0

This one was soo goddamn goood!! I love reading about gods getting outsmarted by mere mortals. Also Quick Ben and Ganoes Paran are soo freaking badass!