[Brys]

I thought Reaper's Gale was pretty good - a definite improvement on the Bonehunters, but still not quite back up to the quality of the earlier novels. There were some really nice twists in it - eg Redmask actually losing the final battle and being killed by his K'chain Che'malle guardians, but some not so great ones (Tehol being made emperor, Brys coming back from the dead). It was good to see Tehol and Bugg again - hilarious as ever. But I think he could have made more of the Karsa Orlong storyline - he didn't seem to have as much character as the earlier ones, and not quite enough time actually spent on him to make it worthwhile.

I'm still annoyed about Hedge being brought back from the dead, but it's a fault I'll keep in the Bonehunters. What I did like about this book was that it gave the sense of complete despair and collapse, and a bit more moral ambiguity than BH - and some of the parallels with the earlier novels (ie the outlawed army, but this one failing in its unclear objectives as compared to Onearm's host MoI).
I think Erikson's also got to the point where it might be a good idea to stop introducing new characters every book - most of the new ones introduced in Reaper's Gale weren't particularly distinctive. He should focus more on developing the characters he has. Still, RG was a good sign - he seems to be tying it all together well, which I wasn't confident he could do after BH.