Review of The Healthy Dead

	The Healthy Dead by Steven Erikson 128pp (Hardcover) My Rating: 8/10 Amazon Rating: 4.5/5 LibraryThing Rating: 4.12/5 Goodreads Rating: 4.15/5

The Healthy Dead by Steven Erikson is a novella taking place in the world of the Malazan Book of the Fallen series. This epic fantasy series currently contains 8 books and is supposed to end up 10 volumes long (although there are supposed to be more books written in the world after that). There are other novels related to the series written by Ian Cameron Esslemont, who created the world with Erikson. In addition to the novels, there are 2 other novellas, Blood Follows (review) and The Lees of Laughter's End.

As is the case with the other Malazan novellas, The Healthy Dead is a story about the adventures of the necromancers Bauchelain and Korbal Broach and their manservant Emancipor Reese, who are introduced in the third book in the series Memories of Ice. It takes place after Blood Follows, but it is a self-contained, darkly humorous story and could be read as a stand alone book. However, since Blood Follows does include the rather amusing story of how Reese came to work for his employers, I'd recommend reading that one first.

After causing chaos in their last destination, Bauchelain, Korbal Broach, and Reese arrive in the remote city of Quaint, where they are offered money by two Saints of Glorious Labor to remove their king from power. King Macrotus the Overwhelmingly Considerate is far worse than his corrupt brother was - he has made "good living" the law of the land. Alcohol and drug use, red meat, and gambling are outlawed and exercise regiments are required. Those who lead a healthy life are displayed in a place of honor after death but those who die unhealthy are hung along the city wall. The two saints would prefer the straightforward usual abuse of power, in which they were mostly left alone as long as they didn't harm anyone too important and a good bribe could solve many problems.

Bauchelain is very much tempted by this challenge, particularly because this zeal for goodness will have dire consequences, as he explains to Reese:

Desire for goodness, Mister Reese, leads to earnestness. Earnestness, in turn, leads to sanctimonious self-righteousness, which breeds intolerance, upon which harsh judgment quickly follows, yielding dire punishment, inflicting general terror and paranoia, eventually culminating in revolt, leading to chaos, then dissolution, and thus, the end of civilisation.

Bauchelain finds the ethics of this situation intrigues him and decides to help. Therefore, he enlists Korbal Broach to employ his necromantic skills of resurrection and sends Reese into the city, where he infiltrates the religious order by posing as the prophesied first Saint of Glorious Labor. One way or another, they will restore corruption and civilization to the city!

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Unlike the usual tomes written in the series, The Healthy Dead is a quick read at 128 pages with large print and some illustrations. I read it in a little over an hour and I am not at all a fast reader. Without the bloat accompanying the typical Malazan novel, this was a stronger work than the novels in the series I have read. It is straightforward and not a word is wasted. The dialogue is humorous and I thought this novella was more entertaining with a better sense of dark humor than its predecessor Blood Follows, particularly when combined with an illustration of the danger of any extreme, no matter how well-meaning.

The society was well-developed and intriguing without containing pages and pages of backstory and history. Many fantasy authors have written about the all-powerful corrupt ruler, and reading about the problems caused by a ruler who took goodness to a tyrannical extreme was an interesting change of pace. King Macrotus may have had good intentions, but restricting his people for their own good did not endear him to anyone.

The Healthy Dead is an entertaining, humorous novel about a city doomed by its leader's obsession with good living. Out of all the Malazan books I have read, this one is easily my favorite.

8/10

Reviews of other books in this series:

Blood Follows

Review of Blood Follows

	Blood Follows by Steven Erikson 125pp (Paperback) My Rating: 7/10 Amazon Rating: 3.5/5 LibraryThing Rating: 3.95/5 Good Reads Rating: 3.84/5

Blood Follows is the first of the novellas Steven Erikson has written taking place in the Malazan universe. While the novels in the "Malazan Book of the Fallen" series contain complex plots and a huge cast of characters, Blood Follows focuses on a small set of characters with a much simpler plot. In fact, the main character in this book, Emancipor Reese, and his employers, the necromancers Bauchelain and Korbal Broach, do not even make an appearance until the third book in the series. Although reading the third book adds a little bit of depth to this story of how Emancipor comes to be employed by the two dark sorcerers, it is not necessary for enjoying this book. With its whimsical dark humor and the rather endearing main character, this is a fun book that is a lot less work to read than a regular novel in the series.

Emancipor Reese has always been unlucky, particularly when it comes to employment. When mysterious murders begin occurring in the city of Moll, one of the victims is the man Emancipor has been working for. Emancipor's shrewish wife orders him to begin looking for a new job before the bells of mourning have stopped tolling for his previous employer. Instead of looking for a new job, he heads to the local pub and has a few drinks with some men who inform him where he can find a job ad for a manservant.

Emancipor stumbles to the post containing the job ad and examines the job requirements. In spite of the death ward in the corner of the paper (that he might not ignore were he a bit more sober), he decides the job is perfect - it requires travel, meaning he would have to leave his wife and children behind much of the time. Emancipor marches over to the location given for applying and is hired by Bauchelain. Little does he know what he has gotten himself into...

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Blood Follows is a charming little story containing humor, intriguing hints of the larger world Erikson has created, some interesting characters, and outright creepiness toward the end. This is a very quick read at 120 pages with somewhat large print and a few illustrations. I don't consider myself to be a fast reader at all, but I read this book in about an hour.

Although I enjoy the full-scale novels in the series, they are often longer than necessary and a bit of a chore to wade through at times. This book has none of those problems - it is light, easy to read, and far better written than the longer books. Words are not wasted and it does not require that you keep track of a vast number of characters, world events and history, and plot threads.

Blood Follows is a fun, darkly humorous tale set in the Malazan world. It offers a more intimate perspective on Emancipor Reese, Bauchelain, and Korbal Broach, but is also set apart from the storyline in the series enough to please newcomers to the series.

7/10

Other reviews:
Realms of Speculative Fiction

New Signed Malazan Books!

Last week I received a personalized copy of Midnight Tides and an autographed copy of The Bonehunters I bought from from The Signed Page, one of my favorite recent discoveries. Both are first edition hardcovers. I was psyched, especially since even though I have a few autographed books, I didn't have any that are personalized. Authors don't come to Maine for signings very often since it's not a very populated area.

There are still a few signed copies of both Midnight Tides and The Bonehunters available on The Signed Page (although not very many). Also, there are some signed copies of The Bonehunters trade paperback available for only $5. That's much cheaper than buying a copy of the book in a bookstore, making it a great deal. I almost wish I'd seen that one before ordering my hardcover copy (almost, since I have the whole series in hardcover so far).

On the Move

My fiance and I are moving this week so we've been packing up all our books and no matter how many we pack, there's always more. And I even have a bunch that never got unpacked from before. It's amazing how many we have, and how many of those I haven't yet had time to read (many of which are on my To Read list for 2007).

Here are a few of the books I came across that I'd recommend (something like an amazon list without the books and prices):

George R. R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire

If you haven't read these yet, what are you waiting for? The first book, A Game of Thrones, is a little hard to get into at first, but it is worth it. The storyline is pretty well done, and the characterization is amazing (even if there are so many characters that it's hard to keep track of them all). There are so many good characters, and they are not the stereotypical black and white/good and evil characters at all. Some of the ones you start off loving to hate, you end up hating to find you love (such as Jaime Lannister, when he is introduced as a point of view character in the third book). A Storm of Swords very well might be the best book I have ever read - from start to finish, it was hard to put down. A Feast for Crows admittedly does not live up to the previous books, but I am hoping that's just because a lot of the best characters were missing and the author actually wanted to continue the story 5 years later but couldn't because he would have had a hard time explaining some events. In any case, the first three books are amazing. Very realistic without being too fantastic. But do be forewarned - Martin is not afraid to kill off his characters, and characters you are attached to may die.

Robin Hobb's Farseer/Liveship Traders/Tawny Man trilogies

Robin Hobb's three trilogies tie together, even though the second one contains a different set of main characters. They are simpler than some of the fantasy books I've read and sometimes not very subtle, but the characterization is top notch. The story is unique, particularly that of the liveships, which is a different and compelling concept. I thought I'd find the Liveship Trader trilogy hard to get into after being so attached to Fitz, the main character from Farseer, but I read them since I understood Tawny Man was supposed to make more sense after reading the second trilogy. Am I glad I did, since I enjoyed them even more than the Farseer trilogy. They're definitely a fun read, and they are better than most of what is available for fantasy today.

Hobb's writing pace is amazing - she consistently writes about a book a year and they come out well. The only one of these nine books I had trouble getting through was Assassin's Quest, the last book in the Farseer trilogy. It just seemed to plod to me somewhat, but that is the only one of those nine books that I didn't find nearly impossible to put down.

I just got Shaman's Crossing, the first book in Robin Hobb's new trilogy. I have not read it yet, but I am looking forward to reading it.

Jack Whyte's Camulod Chronicles

You may have heard or read the story of Merlin and King Arthur, but never like this (unless of course, you have indeed read this series)! Whyte's writing style is far superior to that of most authors I've read; it's very intelligent. The only thing that irked me about it was that a few times he did use the so-called word "irrespective"; I hate incorrect grammar, but that seemed especially out of place when the rest of the writing was superbly done.

This series is generally in the fantasy/sci fi section in the bookstore, but I think of them more as historical fiction books. The emphasis is not on King Arthur and magical events, but starts with Merlyn and Arthur's grandfathers and later is told through Merlyn's eyes. There's a lot of background about the Roman Empire and Britain. It's a very realistic vision of Camelot, and it shows how (mostly) realistic events could have evolved into the fantastic stories about Merlin and Arthur, the Knights of the Round Table, and Excalibur.

The last book in the series just came out about a week ago, and I haven't read that one yet, but all the others were wonderful.

Steven Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen

Unfortunately, only four of these novels are currently out in the U.S. (and at least two novellas). At least they did eventually come out in the U.S.; I heard Erikson was originally told that American authors were not intelligent enough to appreciate this series. This was disappointing, since I had heard good things about the series when it was not out in the U.S., so I was thrilled when they were finally here. I was worried they were not selling well enough to continue publishing them, but they seem to have so far since the fifth book is supposed to come out here next spring.

I've read the first three novels as well as one of the novellas (Blood Follows). The fourth book, House of Chains, is one of the books I packed the other day and is on my list of books to read when I have time to concentrate on a massive, involving book.

So far, the series is amazing and I can definitely see what the hype is about. They're intelligently written, and the worldbuilding is well done. The dialogue is entertaining, especially in the third one which often made me laugh, and there's a wide cast of well-developed, three dimensional characters. There's an interesting combination of magic and a realism in this series as well. Erikson does a masterful job of drawing gods into the tale and making them powerful yet human, much as the Greek gods are depicted.

Maybe it's just something about Canadian authors, but Erikson and Whyte both really struck me as having the most intelligent writing style of any of the modern authors I can think of (with the exception of Martin, of course).

Terry Pratchett's Discworld

There are currently 30 novels in the Discworld series, as well as various illustrated books, maps, Science of Discworld books, GURPS Discworld, and probably more. I have to admit, I was skeptical about this series at first since I generally like books that have an engrossing storyline with realistic 3 dimensional characters, so I thought a comical series would not really appeal to me. Luckily for me, my fiance became addicted to them and read them all and kept trying to get me to read them. They may be short, they may be funny, but they're also a great piece of satire with a lot of subtle philosophy about modern life thrown in.

I was also surprised to find I really like some of the characters. No, they're not as "real" as Tyrion from Song of Ice and Fire or Fitz from the Farseer trilogy, but you've just got to love Death, Sam Vimes, and Captain Carrot. The books focus on a small selection of characters and Death is the only one who generally makes at least a small appearance in all the books. The books about Death and the Night's Watch are the best; the witch books aren't as good. There are also a couple of books that do not have any of the regular characters, such as Small Gods and Pyramids. Small Gods, which deals with Greek philosophers and religion, is one of the best in the series.


Those are probably my top 5 series at the moment, but I keep thinking of a few others that I find hard not to include on my top 5 list. I'll write about some of those and some other decent reads later.

P.S. I don't know what it is with this HTML editor but the font size just is not working as expected. Yes, I know, I do websites for a living, which is probably why I'm too lazy to go rewrite the HTML.