Time for a new update... hell yeah! It's about Chapter 12...
In which Cutter and Darist battle invaders, Apsalar returns, Cutter finds survivors, blood is shed and a sword gains a new wielder; Kalam discovers what had happened to Cpt. Kindly and Pores, is mercilessly hunted by a dangerous foe and is then found by a familiar face; Onrack, Trull Sengar, the T'lan Imass and Tiste Liosan escape the Nascent, not before Onrack realizes some truths and swears a new vow; Lostara and Pearl travel the Imperial Warren, fall through a hole, make shocking discoveries and manage to give peace to a restless soul.
Jesus H. Christ, this chapter is a lot. We were due one of those, huh? And there's a little trick in this chapter - we know the where (mostly), but we don't know the when is each section (more on that later).
I think we'll go in order, otherwise it could get a little messy.
Drift Avalii: First of all, Apsalar being alive is the least surprising plot development ever, if only because I assume nobody reading this book really believed she had died off-page 😂 That being said, holy crap she's behaving coldly. I think Crokus might've slightly misjudged her emotional distance - I'm not sure it's "just" because he's tried to become an assassin and went into Cotillion's patronage, there has to be something else. But, damn, that girl is almost back at "Sorry" levels of coldness, and that's actually pretty damn worrying. If you compare her behavior in GOTM after getting saved from Cotllion's possession to how she's behaving at this point it's like a shocking regression. I wonder, too, if that has something to do with Ascension, as Crokus had pondered - whether you start to lose what makes you human, for better or worse, when you start to Ascend.
In any case, a lot happens in 'only' this part of the chapter - we learn that Darist is Anomander Rake's younger brother (and is called Andarist, actually) and he's wielding a sword with two different names that was intended for Rake but he rejected; we see the Tiste Edur invaders and we learn that there were Malazan survivors of the fleet that had that sea battle against the Tiste Edur and there's one among them that is very powerful; there's some epicc/violent battle scenes here, too, and Darist dies while staving off a group of Tiste Edur... and also Cotillion makes an apperance and *wrecks sh*t*. Goddamn, that was insane.
Seriously, Cotillion's apperance and subsequent fight scene was incredibly vivid and, well, gruesome - I can see why he's "the Rope", huh?
In other things - I don't think Darist's death was supposed to ellicit a reaction from the reader (since he had basically appeared only a couple of pages and had only a bunch of lines, he wasn't very personable) but I do think Cotillion's reaction to it was. Especially to contrast it with Apsalar's coldness throughout the chapter, to see Cotillion of all beings having a sorrowful expression near Darist's corpse is... well, it's intriguing, especially because you don't know what he's apparently sorrowful about. Darist's death? Apsalar? Traveller? Who knows. I also think you're supposed to feel something when Crokus realizes he basically sent those Malazans to their deaths, like if he's not really settled into the "assassin" role yet, at least not fully. Even if he does take out some Edur with his knives, he's still got enough of a conscience to bemoan some of the deaths that have happened because of his involvement.
And... well, Traveller. He's obviously someone important and that's not his actual name - he's the "one with power" Cutter was told about so it's not surprising he's the only one of the Malazan party to survive. And I don't think he's Malazan (or actually mortal) either, especially because he calls Cutter "mortal" and he chooses to name the sword "Vengeance", so I wonder what's up with him and what's his story. The RAFOest of RAFOs, of course 😁
The whole thing ends with Traveller staying in Drift Avalii to guard the Throne of Shadow and sending Cutter and Apsalar away from the island. Wonder when we'll see him again. And I'm seriously wondering what was supposed to be Cutter and Apsalar's mission ther in the first place, if it was something apart from "help defend the Throne of Shadows". Getting the sword to Traveller, maybe? Something else? Oh well, I'm sure it's also RAFO.
B'rydis and Raraku: Kalam's story keeps on showing him being badass as f*ck, even if the moment in which he's "tricked" and falls into the well is hilarious and managed to make me laugh - I mean, the whole idea of this übercompetent guy like Kalam getting tricked in more or less the same way as everybody else who fell down is just funny to me. So we learn that there's a demon inhabiting the giant body, that the body belongs (or belonged) to a Thelomen Toblakai and it had been probably imprisoned down there by The Nameless Ones (remember them? They were the ones that told Mappo in his backstory that Icarium had destroyed his village and he had to become his guardian), and that -thankfully, neither Cpt. Kindly nor Pores had been killed by the demon. Kalam survives by being Kalam (which means he stabs the possessed body and gets thrown back up the well) and then realizes the demon will possess the body of the first creature that drinks the blood-tainted water and then will pursue him relentlessly, so he'll have to part ways with the Ashok Regiment guys lest they by attacked by a furious demon. TBH I wasn't really sold on Sinn telling Kalam "I'll miss you" since they barely interacted a chapter ago and there's no major indication in this chapter that significant time had passed since then, so... yeah, I dunno. Seemed a bit 'unearned' for me. Of course, Kalam being Kalam he's usually right about dangerous sh*t, so it means he was right about the demon possessing the flying reptile with horns (sh*tty luck, my dude) and said being hunting him throughout the desert. For a while Erikson had me, I'll be honest - I really thought Kalam would get paralyzed or something terrible after his fight with the en'karal but... nope. He kept on being badass and crafty and I liked how he just fuuuuucked that demon by throwing sand down its throat and making him choke, lol. I bet the demon wasn't prepared for that 😂
Kalam gets KO'd by injuries and exhaustion but who, of all people, finds him? It's everybody's favorite insane priest of shadow and world famous spider-escaper Iskaral Pust! Great seeing him back, he's a riot - and he exudes "famosity" 😂
All in all... I dunno, I think Kalam spent too little with the Ashok Regiment as to feel one way or another about his departure and solo mission. His fight against the demon was the main course and at least it managed to show that, while incredibly badass and quickminded, he's still human and can make mistakes or get seriously hurt. As for Pust - it's interesting that Kalam's mission involved getting Pust the diamonds and flute from Cotillion, since Pust is a Shadowthrone follower. What's Ammanas doing during all of this? 🤔
The Nascent: I barely understood what had happened near the end there, with the ritual and the portals, gotta be honest. I'm not sure if I'm meant to understand much of the "how" as long as I get the gist of it, right? And Onrack says it plainly at the end: the Imass went to kill the Liosan "god" - or whatever entity is trying to pass off as their god without them realizing. Despite that, I thought there was plenty of enjoyment to be found in this sequence - Onrack still sounds like an ancient/undead version of Eeyore in my mind ("I think that I will revert to reticence" after his pondering is golden) and I feel he has a damn fun dynamic with Trull. And I have to say, the moment in which Onrack thinks about how his sundering from the rest of his kin has made him see them as "the rest of the world sees them" is a bit heartbreaking, because despite having a grain of truth (because they have no choice behind that duty they're beholden to, and there's no mortality to hang above them like Damocles' sword as a way to give meaning to their acts, so it's kind of a forced, meaningless existence) I think 'just' reducing the Imass to "an extinct past refusing to fall to dust. Brutal reminders of rectitude and intransigence, of a vow elevated into insanity" as somewhat reductive of the Imass we've known - some of them quite noble (like Tool). But, once again, there's some truth there that makes it painful, especially when one considers the events of MoI with Silverfox, the Imass and Itkovian (bless him).
I think the revelation that the Liosan are being manipulated by some entity that's "impersonated" Osric/Osseric is, again, intriguing... we don't know who/what it could be and yet Onrack's musings on why those entities do those kinds of shenanigans is some great writing ("in the name of... of nostalgia, the gods worship what was and shall never return again" works as something against directly those spirits/entities that wish to be worshipped as they once were despite being forgotten, and also as a larger critique of a nostalgia-fueled society such as ours, in which we're told to worship at the altar of things that remind us of times gone by, and pay the almighty dollar so we can be sold the facsimile of those times).
I don't know if I understood correctly (or if at all) Onrack's musings about light/dark/shadow but, to me, he was talking about how beings are usually rarely one or the other in terms of purity, we're usually "shadow" because we're capable of both light and dark. And yet "shadow" is still "no substance, only perception" - it's a matter (ha!) of what is perceived instead of what it actually "is". Or something. Pretty words, though.
And I wonder how far Onrack's vow to Trull will go. I did make an "awwwwww" sound when I read that part, because I like their rough friendship.
Warren of Shadow: Pearl and Lostara's dynamic is *also* fun as hell. I felt personally offended when Lostara said men hate to say they don't know and instead make up stuff to reply when asked - I don't have a problem with saying I don't know, lady! There's plenty of stuff I'm ignorant about 😁😂 Nah, it was a funny (and for many, painfully accurate) barb and I loved that moment. There's a lot to unpack here, if anything this whole sequence of the chapter is just mystery after mystery - what was the Warren of Shadow before becoming the Imperial Warren? What happened to those bodies near the pit? Why was that Otataral Dragon (holy sh*t!!!) crucified and whence did it come from in the first place? Why is there a gate to Kurald Thyrllan there? Who were the dragons who crucified the Otataral Dragon? Where did the other Imass go in pursuit of the false Liosan god?
We get no replies to any of that. Now *this* section is the RAFOest of all RAFOs. We do get something confirmed: even though they're in the same chapter, Lostara and Pearl's section is chronologically after the Onrack/Trull one. We don't know how much time has passed between the moment in which the Imass started pursuing the false god and when Lostara and Pearl found Olar's body. We can only assume it's more than "a moment".
Despite that... holy sh*t, the visual of the Otataral Dragon crucified against a backdrop of galaxies and nebulas is just f*cking epic. Chills.
And, of course, as a closer - I did find Pearl's mercy with Olar surprising. Shows he's not all business.
After reading the Chapter I tried to think of a linking, common thread between all these different plotlines and then I remembered the Chapter epigraph and realized: everything in this chapter deals, in some way, with Light, Shadow and Dark. There's the Tiste Andii vs Edur in the island (Dark vs Shadow), there's Kalam being rescued by Iskaral Pust (priest of Shadow), there's Onrack and Trull dealing with the Liosan (Light) and there's Lostara and Pearl's travels (through the Warrens of Shadow *and* Light). So... yeah, I guess that could be it.
Random stuff:
- Cutter calling upon Blind (a Hound of Shadow) as a "f*ck them up!" moment and said Hound immediately cowering after a Tiste Edur said some words was hilarious. "Beru fend!" indeed 😂
- I think it says a lot that the architecture in Drift Avalii is of Edur make and yet all the Edur they fight upon the isle are pretty much "barbarians" in how they're clothed and how they're shown. It shows how far they've apparently fallen.
- The Ashok Regiment is going to meet the Bonehunters! I hope they reach the army in time.
- Grief/Vengeance's description was pretty damn cool.
- I really wonder who that Malazan lady sorceress with the half burned body Cutter found was. She's in full "giving no f*cks, young man" mode.
- The Tiste Andii youths who were with Apsalar are Anomander Rake's grandkids (!!!!). Damn. I wonder who are his kids, though.
- The small detail when Kalam's running through Raraku that his supplies are slowing him down but they're necessary for his survival. It's one or the other.
- Monok Ochem is a soletaken!
- Onrack bargaining with his kin is also hilarious ("tell us, then, the path the renegades have taken"/ "I shall... when it becomes relevant"/ "Now"/ "No.")
- "The secret language of the scratchings, the caves with their painted images that came alive to the pounding of drums—those most mysterious cathedrals of thunder". I *loved* that fragment. And the archaeologist side of Erikson is coming to the surface there, too 😁
I might've missed something important so, for that, I apologize. I hope it was worth the wait!
