'The Fiends of Nightmaria' – Steven Erikson (Tor)

I'll come out and say from the off, I've been a fan of Steven Erikson's 'Malazan' books for a long time now. I still need to finish the main series but that's on me, not the books. I get seven or eight books in and then something inevitably happens, my focus just goes and I'm left picking up the pieces of yet another failed read-through. One day, one day... Still the books that I have read were great! ;o)

So when I was looking over the shelves, in Forbidden Planet, and saw that there was a new-ish (look, there's no way that I'm ever going to catch up with all the new books now) 'Bauchelain and Korbal Broach' novella, I picked it up straight away as I knew that, at last, there was a Steven Erikson book that I could actually finish ;o) Was it any good though? From where I'm sat, it certainly was.

The king is dead, long live King Bauchelain the First, crowned by the Grand Bishop Korbal Broach. Both are, of course, ably assisted in the running of the Kingdom of Farrog by their slowly unravelling servant, Emancipor Reese. However, tensions are mounting between Farrog and the neighboring country of Nightmaria, the mysterious home of the Fiends. Their ambassador, Ophal D' Neeth Flatroq, seeks an audience with King Bauchelain, who has thus far rebuffed his overtures. But the necromancer has some other things on his plate.

To quell potential rebellion nearly all the artists, poets, and bards in the city have been put to death. A few survivors languish in the dungeons, bemoaning their fates. Well, just moaning in general really...and maybe plotting escape and revenge.

Before we get started, a quick advisory note to anyone (like me) who is thinking of picking up 'The Fiends of Nightmaria' without having read 'Crack'd Pot Trail' and 'The Wurms of Blearmouth' first. 'The Fiends of Nightmaria' stands very well on it's own, certainly well enough that you can get a lot out of it without having read the preceding two books. Having said that though, there is a lot of evidence of plot arcs (spanning those previous books) concluding here, at least for now, so I'd say do yourself a favour and get caught up before reading. That's pretty much what I'll be doing now so I'll see you there ;o)

But onto the book itself... It's been a long time since I've read a 'Bauchelain and Korbal Broach' novella and it's kind of comforting to come back, after all that time out, and see that Erikson is still having just as much fun with these two reprobates and their long suffering manservant (although he's taking every opportunity he can to self medicate so I'm not sure how much he is suffering now, but anyway...) If it's not broken... Well, you know the rest and it's clear here that the formula still works with a comedy of errors turning everything upside down just when you think that it's more clear cut than it has ever been. Cue break-ins getting mixed up with escapes as well as an ambassador that... Well, that would be telling but it's worth hanging around, just to see that dawning moment when certain players realise that it's time to make their excuses and leave... Bauchelain's musings on the necessity of tyranny (if you're the tyrant) have some merit to them but the key thing here is that if you don't do your research, you're in trouble. And they didn't so they are...

I love these more intimate peeks into the Malazan universe as the focus tends to be on conversation and interaction, both of which sparkle as a result. 'The Fiends of Nightmaria' is more of the same and while you can't help but wonder if certain people would really talk like this, at a certain point you say 'ah the hell with it' and just enjoy what's there. Which is exactly what I did. As I said earlier, you'll get more out of it if you've read the preceding novellas but there's enough here for a newcomer to really have some fun with necromancers who are so on top of their game that they can afford to be easygoing. If things go sideways, they've got the skills to dig themselves out of any number of holes, mostly while making use of the former occupants.

I'm pretty sure that Erikson was making some serious points here and another read will tease these out. I wasn't up for any of that though, not this time. What I wanted from 'The Fiends of Nightmaria' was a little gentle humour and a trip into the less frequented parts of the Malazan world. 'The Fiends of Nightmaria' more than delivered on that score so I was a very happy reader. Now to go back and see what happened in ''Crack'd Pot Trail' and 'The Wurms of Blearmouth'.

('The Fiends of Nightmaria' can be found in 'The Second Collected Tales of Bauchelain and Korbal Broach', my edition was just the novella by itself)