As is usual for Malazan books, there are multiple plot-lines, all connected by the fact they are happening on Jacurucu, a continent only mentioned by Erikson and Esslemont until now. Thaumaturgs, a ruling mage-class of largest nation on Jacurucu is on the move: there is another invasion targeting the Jungle of Himatan, which covers whole east half of the continect and is ruled by Ardata, Queen of Witches and Mother of Monsters. Led by Commander Golan, the army will find itself attacked not by enemy soldiers, but something even scarier, the Jungle itself: heat, humidity, wild animals, inhabitants from nightmares, bugs and diseases... But before they even reach the Jungle, on their way they will travel through poor villages between their nation and Himatan. In one of such villages, young woman named Saeng, with unique connections to the dead of Jacurucu, will be saved by her brother Hanu, who was taken some years ago to become Thaumaturg strongest weapon, stone soldier of jakshaka. In the meantime, in south, members of several Adwami tribes, including the young prince Jatal, are gathered by the call of foreign warleader called Grey Ghost, who asks of them a temporary truce and offers a common goal: the greatest raid on Thaumaturg capital ever! And on Stratem, remnants of Crimson Guard have gotten a new contract, by Ardata herself: to get rid of Skinner and his Disavowed.
Somewhere I have read that this book is intended for Malazan fans and nobody else, and I would agree with this statement. Even though is much simpler that Erikson's books, "Blood and Bone" would be incomprehensible to non-fan. There is no real introduction to characters, setting and plots, and it is expected to be familiar with prior events to appreciate all nuances and details. So, if you haven't at least read Esslemonts previous books, don't even try reading this one.
I must say I was pretty surprised by this book, and pleasantly so. The pace is pretty slow, but the book is very interesting. Some would consider it dragged and too slow, but I kind of liked it such. Esslemont even gets philosophical a la Erikson on some occasions. Esslemont is not natural at being mysterious in writing as Erikson is, but here he tries and succeeds most of the times - even though he can get tiring sometimes.
What I really liked in this book were the characters. There are some old characters, but most of them are new. There are even some old hidden as new. In general, Esslemont is much better with his own characters than when he uses and recycles Erikson's. I liked Jatal, who is noble and honorable so much that you know that it will not end well. Pon-lor starts as side-character but in the end becomes one of most important and best. Commander Golan and his nemesis Thorn are simply a great duo. But all other are interesting, too. I can only compliment Esslemont in succeeding making all parties look good and nobody bad.
Even though the book takes place on Jacurucu, you will not found it too revealing about its secrets. I know I am boring and repetitive, but Erikson would be handling it better. Nevertheless, it is interesting as it is. I liked how we get a context of where this book fits in. The descriptions of the jungle and the dangers luring there are pretty good. I was surprised how gritty and even disgusting things became on several occasions, like with the worm-parasites!
All in all, "Blood and Bone" was a pleasant surprise. Again, the book is not on par with Erikson's, but it provides the Malazan fans with an interesting plot and a revelation of new part of setting. So I would recommend it to all fans of Esslemont - though pure fans of Erikson should be careful with it.
" doesn't follow this exact model. From the beginning with "
" to tCG, it never felt like classical fantasy: meeting the main characters at their beginning and the following them until their retirement (literal or figurative). But with this series, you were plunged into already rushing stream: there were no clear main characters; some were close to their "retirement", somewhere at beginning, but all gave impression of being bigger than just characters for these books. The same is true for plots. There are several plot that were finished here that we didn't even see start, and there are some there were started but were not finished. Add to this Erikson's style of writing, and it all just gives a feeling of history only glimpsed, with much more potential. Fortunately, this is true and Erikson does plan to publish more books in this setting, with familiar characters.
", there are no Dramatis Personae and we immediately start with the plot. For those first six parts, chapters are split in strict structure, with different sets of POVs. We have one, giving the Letherii, Bolkando, Grey Swords, Fellush (which is a great addition!) and Gesler and Stormy with K'Chain Che'Malle. Then we have the Bonehunters, with the Snake and Khundryls. Third set is Shake and Sand and Withal. We also have many minor one inserted between: Draconus, Elder Gods, Ublala Pung, T'lann Imass, etc. It would be too much to write them all and I am not even sure I could remember them without forgetting a few. What I can say is that some characters are missing. And by that I mean some important characters! There are few cameos in here, but I hope Erikson will decently and successfully continue these ones. Last part is one big storm of alternating POVs, a real action-bomb. It feels much longer that it really is.
" this weekend and I am currently reading "
". After more two months of rereading... Not only that this was tiring, it is first time in my life that I have a to-read-pile! And to be worse, four books: "
", "
" and "
". I think I will need somewhere around two weeks for reading tCG and after that I am taking a brief vacation from reading... I plan to watch some anime, or something.
", but there are still many monologs and wandering to thought. There are many POV's here, some from old characters, but many from new, temporary (the ones that don't appear in more than one book; at least I don't think they will) characters. We again have many Malazan soldiers, many already know, but also few new ones. There are several Letheri POV's, but they don't appear often and server more to describe Malazans from external point. Malazan are as usual funny to read, but it also interesting how they are starting to show some darker tones. Contrary from previous books, Letheri now look much more likable, even more that Malazans. On the other hand, there are some old and some new Baraghast characters; it was a surprise when they reappeared at the end of "
". We also have a first K'Chain Che'Malle POV. I must say, although I would expect them to be more alien. I really appreciate blending of fantasy with SF in their case. We again have one journey-POV: Rutt, Badalle and the snake of children. I am not sure how they belong to the great picture, so I will refrain from giving any final thought about them, but they weren't very funny to read. There are also Khundryl and Grey Helms POVs; they are interesting and often funny, complete with the Bolkando's POVs.
" is a very strange book, compared to the previous ones. Erikson always had a tendency to use his characters as tools for analyzing philosophy, psychology, history, archeology, etc., making sometimes unexpected choices as with simple soldiers uttering deep questions. But in this book this was taken to a whole new level. As before, chapters are divided by different POVs. But now, each POV consist of few pages of internal monolog or reminiscent, after which we have a page of two of actual dialog or action. I don't know how common is this, but I belong to those readers that sometimes got lost on page. Meaning, I sometimes catch myself after "reading" half of page, without knowing what I have read because I was thinking about something prior to this text. Then I have to repeat this skipped text. With TtH, this happened very often. Of course, this is not to say that this not interesting, but it is very inviting for wandering thoughts. Without all this, the book could be compacted in some 300 pages, but then it wouldn't be this book.
". Well, typical for Erikson, get ready for surprise. Also, several fans, commenting on 
" in being a totally crazy book. Instead, jokes are much more moderated and decent; mostly regular bantering that anyone would expect between old friends.
". Wow. Soon there will be fourth book.
" and "
", whom I referred to as transitional books, we have arrived to Erikson a bit different that the first books. It is still everything that marked this series: complexity, style, characters... But everything is taken to extreme and over. This is most evident if first portion of book: (literary) every sub-chapter (I am referring to parts of chapter where we follow one point of view) is crazy. Hilarious, sarcastic, unbelieving, confusing, extreme in every way: crazy! Consider just first such sub-chapter: Iskaral Pust's audience with Shadowthrone. I can't begin to imagine what some casual reader, someone unknowing of MBotF, would think about it... And I said, this takes a good part of the book. In later stages, this extremity is a bit diluted, but still present.
", near Aren (not counting the one in "