#mbotf:tb

So where do I begin? How about I start with things I like, on top of that list would be Quick Ben and Kalam together. I’ve been waiting for more of their interactions, the small, short scenes where they are together, since I think Gardens of the Moon, and finally we got them.

Mappo Runt and Icarium are back together and they were exploring and having fun until some sadistic person called Steven Erikson decided to break them apart and have Icarium lose all memory of his friend with whom he spent centuries god damn it. Also while I’m on the subject, Taralack Veed is a character that I think I’d probably like if he wasn’t a complete douche fucking bag all the fucking time. Stupid Nameless Ones.

<side note> I’ve noticed that Steven Erikson has a few practices when it comes to naming characters. Some of the coolest names follow one such practice; first name has three syllables, second name one syllable. Examples include Taralack Veed, Faradan Sort, Caladan Brood, Anomander Rake. Which incidentally (or maybe not) are some of the coolest character names in fantasy. </side note>

And another thing while I’m still on the subject of Icarium. I love one on one combats. We haven’t had many of those in the series and that’s a shame since we have so many badass characters. We sorta kinda had one this book when Quick Ben faced off against Icarium. Of course my little murder baby Lifestealer would win but Quick Ben did surprisingly well against him. And it was a bit of a surprise, we see Icarium murdering fools left and right and no one is able to stand in his path and then suddenly out of nowhere, someone shows up and manages to throw him back a few times. That one Letherii dude who was hiding among dead bodies describes him as a dark skinned Ceda and that’s when it struck me, Quick Ben is dark skinned, he’s been missing for the last chapter, he was in debt to Shadowthrone, and Shadowthrone was the one who wants to protect this place from the Edur. I like how Steven Erikson left that up to the reader to put together, and later had Cotilion say his name to Trull just for confirmation I guess.

And this book marks the first time I start to like Shadowthrone, I know he’s a fan favorite I just never managed to see it. What I particularly liked was him calling people idiots. That conversation with Ganoes where he was like “Those Nameless Idiots” and “The Idiot Master of the Deck” and when he tricked the Edur with an illusion and when they left he was like “Idiots” that was so cool.

Let’s see, what else? Kalam beating the shit out of hundreds of Claws was cool. His second time cutting through swaths of Claws across Malaz City. That one time when he came up against the two hands Pearl had set aside for him, and he was like “Someone used me to make more of me.” I would have laughed if I wasn’t having a panic attack.

I was sort of expecting a fight between Kalam and Pearl but at the point when he reached him it became clear, Kalam would kill Pearl without breaking half  a sweat, even though he was beat up and injured half way to Hood’s gate by that time.

And I liked Pearl, even though he stabbed Kalam in the back (I don’t forgive this sort of behavior easily in normal cases) and I couldn’t really understand why he hated Kalam that much, I mean Kalam brought him Korbolo Dom to take to the empress. Kalam has every reason to hate Pearl but he doesn’t seem to, at least not as much as Pearl hates him to the point where he can no longer accept his existence. Is it because Topper punished Pearl when he failed to kill Kalam? And who’s fault was that? He had Kalam frozen in place with a knife in his back and he decided to throw him overboard and let the water decide this. And the thing is, they both wanted the same thing. Both had intended to kill Korbolo Dom and Mallic Rel, both wanted the best for the empire, what kind awesomeness would have happened if they sat down together and had a civil conversation, I wonder.

Fiddler. Ughh This all too pure sapper is going to be the death of me I just know it. And how he wanted to be the first through the breach in Y’Ghatan, and how he technically was the last out.

And it’s not just Fiddler, I like all the veterans, especially Braven Tooth. I think the biggest laugh I got this book was when he punched Fiddler in the gut and this conversation happened

“Sorry for punching you in the gut, Fid.” “Like Hood you are.” “I didn’t know it was you-” “Like Hood you didn’t.”

I am not sure, but I think it’s been alluded to that Icarium somehow got his memories back, or at least he now has the ability to retain memories, possibly due to the healing effect of the Eres’al. This part is why I think that

'Then,' the Gral said in a grating voice, bitter with venom, 'I must tell you once more. Who, what you are. I must tell you, prepare you for what you must do. You leave me no choice.' 'There is no need,' Icarium said in a soft tone, reaching out one hand and resting it on Taralack Veed's shoulder. 'You fool!' the Gral hissed, twisting away from that touch. 'Unlike you,' he spat, 'I remember!' Icarium straightened, looked down on his old friend. 'There is no need,' he said again, then turned away. You do not understand. There is no need.

Something else was alluded to, how when Taralack Veed was manipulating Icarium, Icarium was actually aware of it, as he basically called him out on his bullshit when they were heading for the first throne.

Those were the things I liked the most, now for some neutral observations. Things that I thought was interesting but didn’t exactly like.

Starting with Tavore. I still hate her, but I hate her a little less now. I mean I still think what she did was stupid and irredeemable, but...she stood with the Fourteenth at the risk of her own life, that counts for something I’m not made of stone. Even though I still think she really screwed up at Y’Ghatan.

Those Eres’al, what are they? So far we had three distinct looks at them, one that liked to play with Bottle’s penis and who also helped defend the Fourteenth from Edur sorcery, the other who - I think - had possessed T’amber, possibly the same one that liked to play with Bottle’s penis making that one card game they shared even more awkward than it was, and the third was the one who put Icarium to sleep before he killed Trull Sengar. All we know of them is that they look like orangutans and they possess powerful magic.

I have morbid fascination with the Gral, and Taralack Veed, despite my hatred for him, feeds it.

Laseen. At first I hated her, then I sort of was on board with her, but when Korbolo Dom was back in High Fist uniform I was like Fuck you, you dumb cunt.

Now for the things I didn’t like in this book.

Starting with the length. This book is called the Bonehunters and it should have focused mainly on the Bonehunters. Ganoes and Onearm’s host, everything about Karsa and the Edur, and Crokus and co. all those things could have been in a book of their own together. This book is over a thousand pages long and there is not barely any dull parts in it, which is a good thing I guess but I can’t help but feel that somethings were left out because Steven Erikson was trying to cram a lot of things in it.

And Crokus, I hate that little shit. Every time he spoke I was like Shut up Crokus!!! “Oh, two men, same face, different eyes” Shut up Crokus!!! and my feelings towards him which were little more than mild bemusement turned into full on hate when he said to Scillara that he envied her happiness. He actually said that, to a rape victim who was a former sex slave, to a woman who was forced to carry and deliver the child of her rapist, the woman who can’t stand sobriety for any length of time so she smokes weed literally every scene she is in during the entire novel “I envy your happiness” SHUT UP CROKUS.

So there was a time when I complained about the lack of humor in the books, now I am complaining about there being too much, or at least, too much of the same thing. The same style of rambling that is the main source of comedy that you see from Iskaral Pust and the artist and his talking frog and Telorast and Curdle and several other minor characters. And usually I don’t mind it except that one scene right after we learned that Dujek Onearm is dead and Ormolung and his frog were up to their antics again and I was really in no mood for joking.