wing_of_eternity reviewed Blood and Bone by Ian C. Esslemont (Novels of the Malazan Empire, #5)
In the western sky the bright emerald banner of the Visitor descends like a portent …
quite a lot of blood in some scenes
4 stars
Content warning There are spoilers from blood and bone. I'd suggest that you read Return of the Crimson guard (RoTCG), before reading this book. Since there will be some characters from that book, not too many still I recommend it.
A review of Blood and Bone
Note: this review will contain a handful of spoilers. So if you didn't read Bloond and Bone better do so before reading this review.
This book, like all the other books presently released by Ian C. Esslemont, has a great atmosphere. You still get a malazan vibe from reading it, even though it's not as rich in dialogue as Erikson's works tend to be.
Granted, but that doesn't mean that his works are not great in other areas. For example, I've enjoyed Estlemonts descriptions much more than Erikson's because of their succinctness.
Blood and bone happens on Jacuruku. So we get introduced to a new continent. The main point of convergence is the Jungle of Himotan, where, we get a few storylines: One of them concerns Saeng, who is a priestess of light, and her brother, Hanoo, who is a Yakshaka warrior.
I liked the pace of that story. But somehow, even so, there were moments when I knew how things will turn out, and that troubled me. I like my Malazan novels to be mysterious, to keep me on my toes, to keep me guessing. This one, didn't seem to do that as much.
The story of Jatal, the prince of the Hafinaj, and the princess Andanii of the Vehajarwi and the way in which they fall in love, then - suddenly, she starts investigating who the warleader is, ahem... and how their relationship goes south from there. and Jatal starts obsessing over it?
yeah. That, prooved to be a bit boring for me;
But do you all know what saved it all in my eyes? Kallor! Come on! We all knew he was the warleader who united the adwami and convinced them to go to war against the Thaumaturg's Kingdom. Why? Because he wanted revenge, of course!
Then, you get K'azz, Shimmer, and some other few crimson guardsman who travel to Ardata, and I still don't know exactly why. Maybe we'll learn in Assail why.
Well, a book should stand on it's own storylines and plots. If you can't show me what's the point of an arc, why do you think I should be invested in it? And still, I was. Because I knew we were talking about the damn crimson guard here.
Also if you liked the awsome conversations between Captain Kindly and master sergeant-quartermaster-Lieutenant Pores then - you'll be pleased to find out that we have a replica here, in the form of a Thaumaturg commander, Golan, and his scribe, "Principle scribe Thorn". That particular side of the story, I've enjoyed immensely. It felt like old times.
Seang's storyline, was predictable at best. She managed by the end of the book, to put a stop to the ritual that was intended for Kallor, but by it's magnitude, it's presumed that it would have left Jacuruku a wasteland again. Damn those Thaumaturgs and their rituals!
There are also some nice touches, I mean, you get a few scenes with Gothos in them, so that should proove ... refreshing I trust. For those of you who met Gothos in Toll the Hounds and loved his interactions with the Tiste Andii from Drift Avalii.
It was a nice book because we saw familiar faces: Kallor, K'azz, Skinner, and some others.
We also get a quaint short arc with spite who wants to get a shard from the crippled god, but ends up, instead, running naked through the forest in utter fury! Yeah, good stuff right there. Also she meets up with Skinner,. Great!
Speaking of Skinner, it's great we get to see that arrogant DND armouredlike giant of a dude once again! The last we saw of him, he had just stolen a shard of the Crippled God from the Skytower in Corel, and Baars and the other avowed were afterhim.
No. Baars doesn't appear unfortunately. That armour of Skinner's, made by Ardata, and I would advise you to keep that in mind since it will be useful by the end is awsome.
So, to recap, this will proove a fun read in some parts, a bit trudgy in others.
