Pieces on Speculative Fiction

3 stars out of 5. PS Publishing’s edition contains all three so far published Bauchelain & Korbal Broach novellas. Every one of them is worth reading, but lack the touch that makes Malazan Book of the Fallen so interesting. All three have the feeling that Erikson wants to try something different. The underlying humor seems to flower more often in these stories.

First one of the stories, Blood Follows, tells how Emancipor Reese came to work for the sorceror and necromancer in Lamentable Moll. It is fairly simple story, yet manages to introduce to us quite a few really quirky characters, while giving some insight to Reese, Bauchelain and Broach. Yet it lacks the deeper complexities of Erikson’s magnum opus.

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Joe Abercrombie mentioned my review of The Blade Itself in his blog. Times a changing when authors are amongst us mortals. Anyways there’s also a interesting post in his blog on how fantasy series compare to TV series, where he goes to point out the that the TV trend of long plot lines and open-endedness might be making it’s way to fantasy series.

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