Bauchelain and Korbal Broach

So, here it is. If you have read Memories of Ice or cough Orb, Sceptre, Throne, you would have all ready run into the titular characters of this collection of three novellas as well as their manservant, Emancipor Reese the Unlucky. Perhaps you have wondered about these characters, perhaps not, but here are these novellas, any way!

The tone of these novellas are considerably lighter than that of the books in the 'main' series. Nothing, not the various threats, atrocities, crimes, etc. are really taken seriously in these novellas. This creates an odd sensation, since there seems like there just might be more purpose to these novellas than dark humour, but with the exception of 'The Healthy Dead', that point is not clear. Are these satire? Are they commentary on the current state of fantasy literature? Is this appearance part of the joke?

In any sense, these novellas are meant to be humorous... in the dark sense. If anyone has ever seen Peter Jackson's Dead Alive, it's the same type of humour, a strange mixture of horror, gore, and Scooby-Doo antics. Most of the humour also comes from every character being completely self-interested. If anyone does something good for something else, it's only because it was accidental or to break one's ennui. This is probably necesary so that Bauchelain and Korbal Broach could be considered protagonists.

So what part do the duo of necromancers play in these stories? Frankly, not as much as you might think. For the most part, they are more the setting/impetus of the plot then they are participators in it. The stories would not exist without them, but that does not mean they get a lot of screen time. It probably is not necessary, though, since all the other characters are reflections of them anyway. Bauchelain is a sort of arrogant self-proclaimed scholar of the dark arts whereas Korbal Broach is his assistant/ eunuch with massive issues. It's probably a good thing Korbal Broach does not have much screen time, he's a pretty creepy bastard.

So, this edition has the novellas in chronological order, not published order. The novellas in this book are Blood Follows, The Lee of Laughter's End, and The Healthy Dead. Each are structured as fast paced adventures, each could be read easily within three hours. Now, individually:

Blood Follows opens up with a murder 'mystery'. I say 'mystery' because it is very obvious at the off set who is committing the murders, and I imagine is meant to be... it seems to be convention in Erikson's and Esslemont's writings to have these psuedo-mysteries, but I digress. Blood Follows mainly introduces Emancipor Reese and the modest necromancers and the current flow of their lives. We find out how Reese ended up as a manservant to these creatures, and have a bit of adventure to boot.

The Lee of Laughter's End follows almost directly after Blood Follows with our 'heroes' on a ship going elsewhere. The ship hits a magical current and resurrects some monstrosity in the hull of the ship that begins devouring the crew one by one. This novella, more than any other, is like Dead Alive as it follows the bumbling antics of soldiers on the ship trying to deal with the problem and various... unlucky... occurrences that prevent Bauchelain from dealing with the threat directly.

The Healthy Dead is an indictment against lifestyle fascists. Here, Bauchelain and Korbal Broach are hired to kill a king that has imposed his tyrannical views of exercise and healthy eating the city of Quaint's populace.

All in all, this was an enjoyable and fun read. There is not really a lot in the way of information into the Malazan universe, and that's fine by me. The main problem is the dirty feeling you get after you realize you have just read these novellas. Of course, George R R Martin is still more graphic... somehow, so the general populace should not be too judgmental in their condemnation of those who have read these novellas.