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Being a huge sci-fi fan and someone who loves reading about dreaming big, I was constantly intrigued by the man behind Tesla and SpaceX. Little did I know he was the co-founder(and the interesting quarrel between him and Thiel), has 5 kids(I always wanted to start something before 'settling down') and has one of the greatest assholic characters where even Jobs would look like Buddha.
A superb account, a page turner, a look at the obsessed dreamer who proved the most famous quote from Margaret Mead over and over again, a fanboish look, a hypercritical reporting, everything in one. The book singlehandedly rekindled a long lost energy to start something, in me. Suffice to say I'd read whatever Ashlee Vance puts out.

Pros :
Very balanced approach. Though some pages seem like a fanboish(where I think Elon had control over) reporting, the hypercritical negative account, especially during the last days of x.com and paypal's merger made ita very balanced book.

Cons :
I wanted to get closer to the man - a madman as many called him- on personal accounts. But because of the fear his practices and no-quarter firing from the job approach has instilled on many close folks within his companies, the personal touch was missing.

A must read.

This was a re-read, the first time I read it was back in 2015, when I was a novice in terms of fantasy lit. I can't add anything that the hundreds of reviewers before me haven't left but I am sure that there are only a very few who can near Erikson in terms of world-building, managing expansive cast and the action drama.
This is the book where everything starts to make sense, where the bigger players are seen for who they are. This is a book where heavy concepts like mass hypnosis(present day media?) and the twisting of truth that lead people commit heinous things, are dealt side by side. The Bonehunters actually is two books in one.
It was overwhelming back then, it is overwhelming now.
Loved it back then, love it more now.

P.s I've heard so many complaints about how the weird or even complete lack of a sentence structure in many places turn folks off from reading Erikson, but it is prose. It is meant to convey more than just information with words. He uses it perfectly, be it in fantastic action sequences near the end with Kalam or the heart wrenching stuff in Icarium's story/Y'ghatan. Erikson blasts the rules and structure out of the window and makes the words convey a fantastic tale, and I love his work more for that reason.

Thanks to Christian Cameron I've begun to research into the hundred years war. A lover of SFF, I came across the author from Red Knight series, which I completely loved. When I wanted something different, something historical and found Tom Swan series of the author. It was a adventure serial and I loved the author's handling of facets of war and the description of Italy, Greece and islands. When I wanted more, I discovered Ill-made knight whose research was ironically the one that fueled Tom Swan serial.
Initial 50 pages was kinda flat, and it's told from first person, which was a major turnoff. I loved Traitor son for it's expansive world and characters adn when I discovered I'm going to live inside William Gold's head, I was not very enthusiastic.
But that's all I could remember about the reading days, because next I know, 2 days and some 10 hours later, I'm done with the book.
Few novels succeed in holding onto my easily-distracted head but The Ill-made knight made me lose the present and feel like I lived in the brutal age in France. Great characters- I hated Boruc Camus, I understood Gold's love(spoiler, so no), his longing, his confusion about the whole war, his love for his sister and I really could see the war through the character's eyes. The betrayal hit me hard. The end felt rushed, since it was a part Will Gold yearned for, so I wanted to read more(again spoiler-y).
Another facet of the story that made me love it was the inquisitive and exploratory nature of Will Gold. He listened to the politics, he dwelt to understand the banking and economy of the war, especially around the end when Green Knight character comes in during the beginning of the Crusades.
A fine book, with great characters, expansive story, great dialogues and the best of it all, amazing writing on the duels and war. The Poitier battle that held the first half of the book was simply outstanding.