Customer Reviews

The Healthy Dead: A Tale of Bauchelain and Korbal Broach

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Steven Erikson, The Healthy Dead: A Tale of Bauchelain and Korbal Broach (Night Shade Books, 2005)

If Steven Erikson did not exist, we would have to invent him. I've been immersed in a large number of fantasy series consisting of large numbers of doorstop-sized novels for years now. And while a number of them range from the good to the utterly fantastic, I don't believe I have ever come across one that has the gritty realism and emotional impact of Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen. In a genre that is currently seeing some of the best writing in its history, Erikson is head and shoulders above the rest.

This is exactly why The Healthy Dead is such a pleasant surprise. While it takes place in the same world as the Malazan books, and its pair of protagonists are characters in that series, it throws the realism aspect to the wind. It's also a hundred twenty-eight pages, and small pages with a large font at that; you can finish The Healthy Dead in a single sitting (whereas a typical Malazan book, assuming you have a job, will take you weeks). It is a whimsical flight of fancy, a neat, tidy, gory, amusing little morality play that's surprisingly understated-- especially when put up against, for example, the past few books we've seen in Goodkind's Sword of Truth series.

The parallel goes beyond the fact of the moralizing itself. Both Goodkind and Erikson are on about the same set of morals, and approach their particular soapbox from the same basic direction. The difference is that where Goodkind fails in his attempt to get his point across (stopping the action to have one's characters moralize at the audience is, by definition, a failure), Erikson succeeds by taking the opposite tack; the moral of the story is in the actions and reactions of his characters to the setting.

The setting, in this case, is the remote town of Quaint, where the sorceror Bauchelain and his companion, the necromancer Korbal Broach, find themselves approached by two citizens who ask them to find a way to depose their tyrannical king. The king's tyranny is of a quite novel sort (at least, in a fantasy world); he is entirely convinced that the best way to make his citizens happy is to stop them from indulging in vice, and so had banned such things as brothels, alcohol, gambling, and red meat. The citizens, while healthier than they were (at least, when they're not dying of a particular complication of their new healthiness, which I'll leave it to the reader to snicker over), are dying of ennui. They want their old tyrannical despot back. The problem is, said tyrannical despot happens to be hanging on a pike outside the wall. Enter Korbal Broach.

The parallels with modern life couldn't be more obvious, and Erikson's characters react to them much as modern humans do. His solution to the problem is utterly unrealistic, and the stuff fantasies are made of. Good fantasies, though; no one wanders around preaching about the evils of tyranny and the importance of freedom of choice. Still, a straightforward narrative would be a good fantasy story, but not really on the same level of delight one gets from a full-fledged Malazan novel. What raises it to the heights we expect from Erikson are the little details he throws in, like the King's Rube Goldbergian exercise machine, the ex-harlot Knight of Purity, and most of all, the personified Seven Deadly Sins (well, four of them, anyway; one assumes the others starved at one point), who are wonderful characters in their own right.

This is a face of Erikson not seen in his larger works. It lacks the emotional punch of, say, Memories of Ice, but that's to be expected, shorter and not nearly as somber as it is. It's still wonderful. If you're a fan of the Malazan books, pick this up at your earliest convenience. If you're not, hie thee to the bookstore and pick up Gardens of the Moon. Now. ****

This, the second of the short-story masquerading as a hardback book by Erikson regarding the necromancer pair, is quite enjoyable, with a heavy element of satire on the 'health police' as a city is taken over by a king who demands all become perfectly healthy, with no vice, lust, odor, noise, etc. Predictably the city is in quite dire straits with a police-state apparatus by the time the nercomancers and their servant arrive. The plot has been described elsewhere in more detail but it is a great setup for a short-story and Erikson handles it well.

Just be aware that you are buying a story that, if printed in the typeface of the main malazan novels, would be about 75 pages long, at a price (new on amazon) that would buy 2 of the main sequence novels with about 20x the pages. You may finish this book in an hour! Nightshade has printed some great stuff (recently some out-of-print Glen Cook material, and they are going to do Clark Ashton Smith over the coming months) but I do feel the tactic of selling a short-story in hardback form at this price (retail 25$!) is arguably predatory. My rating was not impacted by the economic aspect of this.

As the prelude to one of the best on-going fantasy series, Malazan Book of the Fallen, this book sets the stage to a unique world. Although the book is only about 120 pages long it still captures the imagination. This is a one night read, but the story will haunt your dreams for a year. A must read!

The Bonehunters is book 6 in a 10-book series that should be finished and published by 2010-11. Steven Erikson has been generally good in terms of completing one book per year and the US publication schedule should catch up to the UK schedule by the release of Book 10, tentatively titled The Crippled God.

In general, the Malazan Book of the Fallen series ranges from good (House of Chains) to fantastic (books 3 and 5). The scope is vast -- multiple continents, numerous human and humanoid societies, dozens of cultures, scores of deities, historical intrigue spanning hundreds of millenia. No other fantasy fiction writer comes close to this breadth, not even the backstory of the Aiel that Robert Jordan portrayed in The Shadow Rising.

That said, The Bonehunters is one of the lesser entries in the series: less plot and less historical scope than previous entries; so many hand-to-hand combat descriptions it seems as if Erikson sought to write a book version of a martial arts movie. It is not bad. But after Midnight Tides, Erikson had a letdown.

Bonehunters lacks the emotional impact of Midnight Tides (the best of the series) and Memories of Ice; the action still has great pyrotechnics like followers of the series have come to expect, but not as much soul. Ultimately, this is a transition book in the series: Erikson has set up his main stages for the action, now he begins to move his characters into place to set up the resolution.

This review is for The Bonehunters, but amazon has apparently changed the book title to the healthy dead, as of Aug07. This is incorrect and should be changed back to The Bonehunters.

This picks up following the events in House of Chains, following Heboric, Kalam/Quick Ben, Genoas Paran, Tavore Paran, Fiddler & company, as well as Karsa Orlong and Icarium & Friend(s), and Leoman and followers. Trull Sengar plays a very small role in this novel, though the Tiste Edur play a larger role overall.

The author keeps bringing his various plot threads closer together, and in this case brings back the Empress as a character in the story. I think Erikson's writing skill is improving with each book he writes, as this and Midnight Tides seemed much tighter and consistently written than the predecessors.

Spoiler comment

I do think that in terms of this book (not what is to come) Erer'al served as a deux ex machina plot device, allowing several scenes to turn out differently than they would have otherwise, including the confrontation with the Tiste Edur fleet, the extraordinary speed with which the malazan fleet went from one place to the next (maybe not, the author could simply have expanded his timeline), the outcome of the fight between Icarium and Trull. I suppose once the goddess' agenda is made clear in future novels this may actually seem to work out ok, and in any event the precedents of gods either impersonating (errant, mael) or possessing (sorry/apsalar) mortals is already well established.

My greatest regret with this book is that I now have read all 6 published novels in this series and have to actually wait for the next 4, presumably up to several years for the last one.

The Bonehunters is Book 6 of the Malazan Book of the Fallen. For a plot summary, you can look at the book description. After reading this book, all I can say is "Wow!" (again). The best part of the book is the convergence (a term Erikson uses) of multiple story lines: Icarium, Karsa Orslong, Trull Segar, the Tiste Edur, Apsalar and Kalam, the Empress, the Chain of Dogs, Ganoes Paran, etc., etc., etc....

Another outstanding part of this book is the continued humanity of Cotillion, something that we began to see in House of Chains. The thought of the patron god of assassins not only being at the front line of the war with the Crippled God, but also holding Apsalar when she thinks Cutter is dead is overwhelming. Even more striking is the last time we see Cotillion in the book: sitting with his head in his hands after seeing the carnage vistited to his "Shadow Army" at the hands of the Tiste Edur (and Icarium)

Powerful stuff! One question, though: who in the world are the Perish?

A good (albeit short) fantasy read!

This is another sordid tale from Steven Erikson involving Bauchelain, Korbal Broach and Emancipor Reese: We'd last left our despicable trio of heroes on their urgent (and expedient) departure from the town of "Lamentable Moll". Now we pick up their trail near the town of "Quaint"; the town and its "kindly" king are soon to know the mayhem and devastation that can result from a visit from these three traveling companions.

Again, as with the first book ( Blood Follows), it's Erikson wonderful use of descriptive prose that has that ability to take you into the places described in the book; it's that dank, foreboding atmosphere, that edgy feeling for ones safe being that makes this novella a pleasure to read. And yet, despite that gravity of the overall story, there is an element of humour sprinkled throughout this work; even a couple of occasions that made me laugh out loud.

All in all, an enjoyable story, told with typical Erikson literary style and skill. If you liked " The Malazan Book of the Fallen" series or "Blood Follows" you'll enjoy this.

Fad vigilance can be killer.


It seems that some time has passed since the last novellas featuring these characters, and they have left some more unhappy cities in their wake.

This misadventure is what might happen if you took a Terry Pratchett novel and twisted it one hundred and eighty degrees to the postive end of the grotesque axis.

A city with an obsessive and enforced observance of health feds is not too healthy at all in reality, and easy prey for demonic deadly sins.

Enter the necromancers and hireling, who, funnily enough, might actually improve the situation in this town.

This may well be a book that is suitable for a specific kind of person only. You may know Steven Erikson as the writer of the 'Malazan book of the fallen' series. Expect something completely different...

Where the book of the fallen is characterized by incredibly grim and moody atmosphere (YAY! Gotta love that), 'The Healthy Dead' strikes me as the comic relief Steven needed while writing his serious stuff.

Still, very eloquently formulated, precise and very amusing, the tales of Bauchelain and Korbal Broach offer a somewhat cynical look on life - or death - from the point of view of two very egocentrical necromancers. Where egocentrical arguably is just another metaphore for evil.

If you are an Erikson fan and devoted follower of his work and amazing creations you must obtain this book. It's a quick tale for sure. It has a surprising price tag upon occasion for sure. It's a hardcover for sure. You will be begging for more....FOR SURE!!! Find this book and it's fellows. Obtain them all and enjoy for read after read.

Every time a person reads a Steven Erikson book they find themselves in an over the top fantasy epic that brings them to their knees with desire. Have no fear. You will never be let down by this amazing man. You will be enlightened and even more aware of life in the general sense. That includes the reader's private life. Even though you are reading fiction, at it's best, you will learn and become more aware of just how interesting your personal life as a reader really is.... Obtain this book to understand the tip of the iceberg on just what I mean by that last sentence.