Blood Follows by Steven Erikson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
What this book is about:
We are in Lamentable Moll where a series of murders – 11 so far – have taken place over the course of 11 nights. The people are panicking and Sergeant Guld is appointed the task of finding the killer by King Seljure. Meanwhile, Emancipor Reese, a man with a legendary ill luck, is looking for a new job. His previous employer was one of the 11 victims of the vicious murderer, but Reese cannot afford unemployment. Lucky for him though, two mysterious new-comers are looking for a new manservant and he might just be the right man for the job!
This is a novella from the short series of Bauchelain & Korbal Broach and its suggested reading order (according to the Malazan Wikia) is after both Gardens of the Moon and Deadhouse Gates of the main series: Malazan the Book of the Fallen. In order to follow and fully understand this book and some concepts presented in it, you need to have read at least the first book of the main series. As a novella, Blood Follows is quite short which is unusual of Erikson. The descriptions of the places were shorter but concise and definitely created a dark, mysterious and creepy atmosphere throughout the book. Although Erikson only used 100 or so pages he still managed to create vivid,complex characters and a quite sick but intriguing storyline. And lets not forget the twisted, dark humour which was abundant in this book as it is also in the main series.
And thank Hood for the rat-hunters, the fearless bastards will spit at a warlock’s feet if that spit was the last water on earth.
This novella was a nice, fast and lighter read than the big, chunky books of the Malazan series. I flew through it in two days and I had a good time reading it, so I will be reading more of these small novellas again soon. But if you don’t feel like reading them, these short stories are not integral parts in the Malazan series and you are definitely not missing something important. Still, I would recommend checking this one out, especially if you are undertaking the Malazan project (like I am) as it’s a nice, quick addition to the Erikson tomes.
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You can buy this book from Amazon UK here:
The Tales Of Bauchelain and Korbal Broach, Vol 1 (Malazan Empire)
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