SFF Readalongs led by Kitty G discussion

This is the thread for Chapter 12 & 13 of The Bonehunters. I hope you're all enjoying it so far!

Yay for making it over halfway!
What do you like about this book compared to the last Erikson one we read?
Anything you're really not loving or confused about?

Okay so I'm not going to do a super long and rambling message here but rather take the same approach as TS and just list a few of the thoughts floating around in my head right now.

Apsalar's story with Terlorast and Curdle is really interesting to me and I'm happy about this as for a bit Apsalar became a bit of a redundant character in my mind (when she was with Crokus). Now I think she's making her own choices (although influenced by Cotillian and Shadowthrone of course) and she's becoming more of her own person again.
I also love that we've just had the big revelation about the whole 'they're Dragons' concerning Curdle and Telorast. I think this could develop into something pretty interesting. AND I do love Curdle and Telorast's conversations. They make me smile!

Another character I like a lot in this book is Iskarul Pust who seems to be working for Shadowthrone (I think). We have seen him before, but this book feels more like he's a great character and he's actually doing stuff. Also he and his wife bickering is great fun and they're crude but hilarious which makes me happy!

Seeing Paran being a badass with his army of undead peeps was very cool and he seems to really be embracing the role of Master of the Deck now which I like. I also think that his companion (who I think is an Imass if I remember correctly) is very cool and hopefully they'll catch the demon-thingyy they're after.

Karsa Orlong is a fabulous character and I was very happy to see him return to the story. He's off to help a tribe of people much like his own right now defend themselves and seeing the parallels between his own tribe and theirs seemd to get him all riled up. I think he knows so much more of the world now and he understands how isolated and alone his tribe was, so this tribe reiterates that to him.
I also think he's just a pretty awesome character and seeing him travel with Samur Dev is a pretty interesting blend. Not sure how much I like Samur, but she's a fairly insightful character at least and seems to be helpful to Karsa so far.

I loved the scenes where they were all crawling through the tunnels (I know this is way back but I've been bad at updating so I am going to throw everything in here) and Bottle controlling the Rat. That was all very sinister and dark and creepy. I was certainly worried for them all and happy that they made it out and Fiddler/Strings did too.

I was glad that Corabb deserted Leoman (who btw is dating Whiskeyjack's Sister?? How weird!!!) because he was becoming more annoying to me and I actually liked the way Corabb helped Fiddler on through the tunnels.

I love Greyfrog too TS. I thought that he was a pretty interesting character from the start but the way that he chatters away to himself does make me smile.

I'm sure there's a lot more I could mention but that's some of the highlights so far. I look forward to hearing everyone else's thoughts too :)

Great recap.

Pust is a High Priest of House Shadow, maybe Shadow's most significant mortal follower. And he's hysterical, I love Pust. Can you imagine him having a dialogue with someone like Kruppe?

Paran is with Ganath right? A Jaghut if I recall correctly. Paran himself can become a real gamechanger as Master of the Deck.

Karsa is pretty interesting in this book. I can't remember where it is but he has a scene somewhere that I feel is extremely Robert E. Howard like, very sword and sorcery. Even though it breaks my suspension of disbelief, as Karsa often does haha, I think it's a pretty solid scene. And Samar Dev is pretty good, to provide that counter balance to Karsa's developing and changing world views. They oppose eachother philosophically, but they always give eachother something to think about.

And Y'Ghatan, oh boy, Y'Ghatan. I could write a piece as long as that chapter itself about what all I thought about it. The city that claims Malazans. But in short, Hellian sobering up when the fighting starts gives me such a rush. I love her.

When (it was Maybe right?) screws up the munitions and detonates his overly huge explosive early when breaching the wall, I'm freaking right with Bottle in that scene.

When Fiddler punches Smiles for not bringing rope. And Fiddler in general having to make sure his squad is first into the breach. First in, Last out. Bridgeburner 'til the end.

When Truth takes all the munitions and dives into the flames, and Gesler furiously tries to follow him to stop him. Oh God, I tear up thinking about it.

When Sinn lights up...

And just that whole scene when all of the marines in the tunnels are hallucinating those memories, that was great character building.

And let me tell you, Corabb was sort of funny/sort of annoying in House of Chains to me. But watching his growing disillusionment with Leoman was enthralling. And when he pulled Fiddler through those tunnels, he became my bro for life. I would walk on bloody stumps through the snow for Corabb Bhilan Thenu'alas.

"For Hood's sake, Gesler, I've never been in better hands."

Now, for one of my favorite moments when I reread Gardens of the Moon when this group started. In that book, the Moranth call Whiskeyjack 'Bird That Steals'. I don't know if this was intentional or not, but I believe they call him that because of when he and Fiddler stole Dunsparrow back from a sanctified temple of Hood. How they would know about that, I don't know. But the Moranth are a strange and mysterious bunch. But I like that so much, even if it weren't true, it's my headcanon.

Evan wrote: "Great recap.

Pust is a High Priest of House Shadow, maybe Shadow's most significant mortal follower. And he's hysterical, I love Pust. Can you imagine him having a dialogue with someone like Krup..."

Thanks for the response Evan!! I agree, there were SO many good moments in the scenes within the tunnel and I feel the exact same way about the character of Corabb as you did :)

Can't wait to read more of this and then move onto the next one :)

Am really liking this instalment of the Malazan so far. Aside from all the new characters in the Fourteenth that I am still kind of struggling with, I find this easy to get back into given all the familiar 'faces'.

I am also beginning to really enjoy characters like Pust and Karsa which I've been a bit ambivalent about previously. That scene with his mule and his squabbles with Mogora are so hilarious!

Ganoes Paran - man I've been waiting for him to come to his own and embrace his ascension - as he puts it "well I am the Master of the Deck of Dragons. Might as well make the grand title meaningful." That was an awesome scene where he drew out the wooden card and made the scaled bear disappear. "I hope this works" LOL!!

The slaughter of Heboric, Cutter and Scillara really shocked me though. At that time I just cannot believe that Cutter especially is dead.. it's just too sudden and for no reason (from a plot perspective). And well I was proven right.. (I hope).

Not sure if I was reading too much into it but the fact that both Dejim and the Deragoth were only 5 each now seemed too much of a coincidence. :)

I'm neutral about Samar Dev so far but I enjoyed her banter with Karsa who has absolutely no patience for long explanations/discussions, etc. That brings to mind his earlier companionship with Torvald Nom - "Too many words!!" :D

I also feel the same about Corabb as both of you! His sticking by Fiddler really elevated my opinion of him.

Evan wrote: "When (it was Maybe right?) screws up the munitions and detonates his overly huge explosive early when breaching the wall, I'm freaking right with Bottle in that scene"

It was Crump, the Mott Irregular cast-off.

Notwithstanding, I don't know how you can remember so much of what happened since it appears that you've read this quite a while ago.

TS wrote: "It was Crump, the Mott Irregular cast-off.

Notwithstanding, I don't know how you can remember so much of what happened since it appears that you've read this quite a while ago. "

Crump, right, yes.

Haha, I don't remember nearly as much as you think I do. There are quite a few things you guys mention that I'd completely forgotten about. Some stuff just sticks to my memory really well. And plus Erikson is pretty good at jogging your memory with one little quip to something that happened five books ago. Like when Ranal gets himself blown up at the end of House of Chains.

And I'm a slow reader so I try to soak it all up as best I can. I read Bonehunters nearly two years ago. I'm only just now about 1/3 of the way through The Crippled God. You guys might finish the series before I do haha.

So... I'm loving this book. Like a lot - even though my reading pace doesn't show it.

However, I'm grumpy about a few things:

1 - Did Bottle really marry a rat?
2 - Is Heboric really dead? Man that guy can't catch a break. Also, I fell kind of robbed investing in him as a destriant of Treach just to have him go off and die. How thoughtless of him. #NoOneIsSafe