The Lees of Laughter's End (Tales of Bauchelain & Korbal Broach) [Hardcover]

Steven Erikson (Author)

Book Description

Series: Tales of Bauchelain & Korbal Broach | Publication Date: June 30, 2009

West of Theft, on a vast stretch of ocean known as the Wastes, the free-ship Suncurl pilots its way along the Lees of Laughter's end, away from the city of Lamentable Moll. Aboard the ship, three passengers have become the subject of the crew's gossip: the luckless manservant Emancipor Reese, and his masters, the homicidal necromancers known as Bauchelain and Korbal Broach. But a bizarre force pursues them along the cursed sea-lane known as Laughter's End, even as an arcane thing awakens aboard the Suncurl. What secrets do the captain and her First Mate conceal from the rest of the crew? What lurks in the darkness of the ship's hold? And what of the eunuch's strange behavior... or his frightening offspring?

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The latest yarn in Erickson's sprawling Malazan Book of the Fallen fantasy series is filled with striking characters and ambience, but light on action and plot. Aboard a stolen sailing ship called the Suncurl are the quiet eunuch Korbal Broach, a stocky necromancer, and the eloquent sorcerer Bauchelain, a silver-tongued master of demons. As mystical iron nails in the hull merge belowdecks to form an unsavory, undead consciousness starved for flesh and blood, the beautiful Captain Slater reveals a dark secret that may doom them all. Given barely enough narrative for a short story spread over a novella's page count, only die-hard completists will choose this pricy stand-alone over Erikson's forthcoming trade paperback collection of this and two other Bauchelain & Korbal Broach tales. (Sept.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 128 pages
• Publisher: Night Shade Books (June 30, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1597801445
• ISBN-13: 978-1597801447
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #941,926 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

STEVEN ERIKSON is an archaeologist and anthropologist and a graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop. His previous novels in the Malazan Book of the Fallen series--Gardens of the Moon, Deadhouse Gates, Memories of Ice, House of Chains, Midnight Tides, The Bonehunters, and Reaper's Gale--have met with widespread international acclaim and established him as a major voice in the world of fantasy fiction. He lives in Canada.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another marvelous tale involving Bauchelain and Korbal Broach, August 4, 2010

By 

R. Nicholson - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Lees of Laughter's End (Tales of Bauchelain & Korbal Broach) (Hardcover)

"The Lees of Laughter's End" is a novella by Malazan Series author Steven Erikson. The book is 120 pages in length.

The story...*SPOILER*

The seaworthy vessel, 'Suncurl' has left the seedy coastal town of Lamentable Moll (gotta love the name) on a run to through the treacherous waters known as the Lees of Laughter's End. This is a trip fraught with dangers at the best of time but one in which the well seasoned captain and skanky crew would normally prevail. However this time, not only are they being pursued, but they've taken on some mysterious cargo and three suspicious travelers; those being the necromancers Bauchelain and Korbal Broach and their manservant Emancipor Reese...the result might be best described by a line from a Gordon Lightfoot song 'The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald'..."does anyone know where the love of God goes, when the waves turn the minutes to hours".

*END SPOILER*

This is the third short volume involving the dynamic duo of Bauchelain and Korbal Broach and once again Steven Erikson has produced a minor masterpiece. Anyone familiar with Erikson's nine (soon to be ten) books of "The Malazan Book of the Fallen" series, will be somewhat accustomed to the strange names and place.

I've almost begun to believe that Erikson's true strength in writing is in these short stories that simply rivet the reader from beginning to end. The action is non-stop and unpredictable; at one moment horrific...the next slapstick funny. The characters are reprobates of the worst sort who'd sell their own mother (or your mother for that matter) without batting an eye. Where backstabbing and clandestine plotting are not only a way of life but almost an art form. Only this time they find themselves just a tad over-matched.

Conclusion:
Erikson is at his best. I suspect there will be those who will bristle at the price of this small hardcover book, but I won't be one of them...it's worth every penny. 5 Stars.

Ray Nicholson

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars The Lees Of Laughters End, September 11, 2009

By 

Roe Emery "roee" (Englewood, CO United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Lees of Laughter's End (Tales of Bauchelain & Korbal Broach) (Hardcover)

You must be a fan of the Malazan tales to have any appreciation for this little story. It's a quick read and is the sequal to BLOOD FOLLOWS. I'm not really sure if anyone survives this odd adventure so there will probably be a third volume forthcoming to let us know just what the hell happened. The two stories are no where near as entertaining as any single volume in The Malazan Books Of The Fallen and not meant to be. Bauchlain & Korbal Broach are not on my list of interesting characters from those volumes so it's a mystery to me why Mr. Erikson chose them for our entertainment. I guess their gruesome ways must somehow be interesting to some of us. So I'd say give them a try when you run out of the other Malazan tales. They will maybe ease the wait for the next volume? roee

4.0 out of 5 stars The Art of the Short, January 18, 2010

By 

Keogh (Denver) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Lees of Laughter's End (Tales of Bauchelain & Korbal Broach) (Hardcover)

Great short stories are hard to pull together in the strictest confines of the discipline. One must juggle different elements than a pure novelist does: read it in an hour, get full plot development, flesh out characters, deliver a nice little zinger at the end. The field of authors who can actually do this (and that I have read) is very short: EA Poe, HP Lovecraft, RE Howard, CA Smith, PK Dick, Cordwainer Smith. The common thread being that great short story writers typically only write short stories. The twist here being, you have to have read several thousand pages of the Malazan Empire Books to even run into these guys: Bauchelain & Korbal Broach. Strictly speaking, these little treats are awesome for the lucky folks who have read Steven Erikson's books. For the uninitiated, you will miss out on some of the deeper threads being expanded on in the story.