SFF Readalongs led by Kitty G discussion

This is the thread for the Prologue & Chapter 1 of The Bonehunters. I hope you're all enjoying it so far!

How do you like the setting and time period of this one so far?
Was it another weird Prologue or did you understand it?
Any theories about who we'll meet again?

the prologue was weird, a man who no one can remember.
In chapter 1 we meet up with Apsalar again. Wish she stayed with Cutter.
Apsalar meets 2 ghosts and frees them, but I think there up to something.

You mee Hellian at the beginning of this book. The drunk Malazan sergeant who's afraid of spiders. She's one of my favorites ever. She is absolutely gold.

You also meet a Barathol Mekhar in this prologue too I believe. Kind of a familiar last name.

Things are going to heat up in this book. Ha ha.

Evan wrote: "You mee Hellian at the beginning of this book. The drunk Malazan sergeant who's afraid of spiders. She's one of my favorites ever. She is absolutely gold.

You also meet a Barathol Mekhar in this p..."

I've just started this yesterday and I'm well into chapter 2 at the moment. Great to be seeing some new and very interesting characters, but also to be seeing some old ones again.

Can't wait to see where this all goes :)

Okay so I ended up restarting this book as I'd been reading a lot of other books alongside this and this one just kept on getting pushed back so from today onwards this one is my focus.

When I restarted I was happy to have done so because I think it helped me to really comprehend a lot more of what was going on in the Prologue and Chap.1 which I had forgotten or misunderstood before.

Okay, Prologue summary time:
So, we met Hellian who is a Sergeant of the City Guard. She's also scared of spiders which seems bad as the city she lives in is (pardon the pun) crawling with them! (I'm also not a big fan of spiders I must say!)
She goes to a temple to find that many of the Priests within have been murdered, and she also meets Banascher who summoned her. He suddenly disappears, showing her that something magic-related is going on... (also no one can remember what he looked like!)

Then we see Dejim Nebrahl who is made up from 7 souls and is a D'ivers (if I am understanding this correctly). He's released by the 12 Nameless Ones and ordered to complete a task by them in order for his freedom. (of course when he's freed many of the Nameless Ones [but not Sister Spite] are eaten by him as he cares nothing for the deal).

We then have Taralack Veed seeing a Dragon fly up from the burial site. I'm thinking this is Sister Spite because wasn't she referenced before in another book? I can't remember which but I am sure she's linked to Draconus somehow, his daughter or niece or something???

And finally we meet the blacksmith Barathol Mekhar who is somehow connected to Kalam I am assuming as the surname matches up? Maybe a brother or cousin or something...

Generally very interesting Prologue with a lot of exciting things being alluded to and the introduction of potential new characters. I think this one could be a pretty dark book, judging from those before, and the title 'The Bonehunters' doesn't bode too well!

Onto Chapter 1 then:
We meet a woman going into a tavern (not initially told her name but then we figure out that it's Apsalar so I am happy we have some returning characters now!).

Leoman's Army (the remains of Sha'ik's Army) are being chased by Tavore's army and we follow Corabb and Leoman as they talk about the tragedy and the collapse of the Rebellion.
(I'm still sad that Sha'ik is dead as it all happened so fast at the end of that last book and I preferred her to Tavore so it kind of sucks that she had to die, and not even in a *battle cry* kind of a way!)

Then we see Samar Dev (I can't remember if we've met her before but her name does ring a bell with me... Correct me if not) and she's in a pickle as her invention broke and her foot is broken also. Karsa (yay so happy he's back again!) sees her and agrees to help her if she'll help him get into Ugarat unseen (not likely!).

Then we see Apsalar who's sad about having to leave Crokus (I'm sad she left him too, I feel like they could have actually had a good thing going if she could have shaken off Cotillian, but I guess it's not meant to be - pr at least not yet?). She goes out to work for Cotillain and on the way is stopped and asked to Dance, to which she replies that she 'walks the shadows' and so scares many in the inn.
She then meets two ghosts who are more of the crazy sort (talking thoughts aloud and arguing in front of her etc. - certainly seems to be a common Erikson theme!). They're called Telorast and Curdle and she agrees to help them out of Shadow.

Then we have the bit where Corabb eats a Toad!!! I thought this bit was really humorous actually and found it pretty good comic relief from all the darkness and despair which has been going on in the previous parts of the Prologue and chap 1.

Back to Karsa trying to enter the city - YEP, it didn't go well! :) He's recognised as Sha'ik's bodyguard and is allowed into the town. Karsa says that the rebellion is broken and Malazans are on the way to their town.
Karsa doesn't trust Leoman interestingly! I like Karsa - maybe he should lead the Rebellion?

Next we see Apsalar as she chats to the ghosts and discovers that they know a lot of the orginial Apsalar, Mistress of Thieves. They seem to come from Starvald Demelain and they indicate that the original Apsalar was an Imass.
When she tries to do her job she sees that Mebra (who we met in Deadhouse Gates and was the one that Kalam took the book from...right??) is already dead. She's attacked by a Priest of the Nameless Ones (gosh, they really do get involved in everything behind the scenes don't they!?)

Finally we see the ghosts Apsalar met deciding that they should stay with Apsalar until they can 'cheat them all' and then Curdle says good becuase, 'I want my throne back' (which throne? Who is Curdle really????? Is it dangerous for Apsalar to be involved with them - probably!)

So all very interesting in chap 1 as well. I like seeing Apsalar again and also the ghosts she's with. I'm also very happy that Karsa is a badass and is back in the story once more. I hope that these two remain a focus for the rest of the book as I really like both of them :)

Kaitlin wrote: "Evan wrote: "You also meet a Barathol Mekhar"

Mekhar is Kalam's last name!!

Oh I am liking this so far. It's nice to see the old cast of characters again.. some familiarity makes the initial going easier.

The Prologue is quite ominous! Especially the freeing of Dejim Nebrahl. I find this particularly intriguing...
.. that shall be shaped by the Nameless Ones, for we are the hands of the Azath, we are the shapers of the will of the Azath.