The Bonehunters

Executive Summary: This has been my favorite book of the series thus far. There are just a few minor things that prevent me from giving it a 5 star rating.Full ReviewThe book probably introduces the fewest number of new characters. As we've passed the halfway point of the series, it appears that the majority of the very large ensemble cast has been introduced and the stage is finally set for the looming battle.Sides are forming up, but just who is on which side still isn't clear. This book contains most of my favorite characters, many of which are together again. I'm especially partial to the scenes of Quick Ben and Kalam, of which this book has many. Not only that, but they are hanging out with Fiddler as well.Things with the Crippled God are heating up and things are looking bleaker for the soldiers of the Malazan's 14th.I finally feel like I have a handle on the series, and while the start of this book introduces some new characters, I didn't feel like I was thrown into the deep end with this one like I did with [b:Midnight Tides 345299 Midnight Tides (Malazan Book of the Fallen, #5) Steven Erikson http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1366996057s/345299.jpg 3898719].My only complaint is that Mr. Erikson likes to conceal things from the reader beyond what seems necessary. It's one thing to have information withheld from the reader when the point of view character doesn't know it. It's quite another when he does things like playing the pronoun game with characters we already know or don't allow us to hear a conversation that the point of view character is involved in.This series is complicated enough with a huge amount of depth. This just seems overkill and the reason I can't give this book a 5 star rating.Still this has been the most enjoyable of the series thus far. I rushed a bit ahead of the Malazan Fallen group to finish a week early. I'm eager to see what happens next.4.5 Stars.