Spoiler clearance: Reaper’s Gale

   Throatslitter is a nice surprise as one of the new anchor-characters. I like to hear him think. He is cool and he is scary. Yan Tovis is also much more developed now, which is great. I love that ‘Shake arc’ in there. Seren Pedac’s dialogue with Mockra (the Warren) is entirely unexpected, and totally exciting. Wow! Captain Faradan Sort and Beak are an odd match, but efficient nevertheless; Faradan Sort seems to always get stuck with weird powerful teens like Sinn.

   The Throne of Ice with Hood’s mortal body sitting on it: that was a perfect scene. One of the most chilling scenes in this book! Hood’s breath – his last breath.

   And two lines found on page 573:

   ‘Here’s your dread enemy, Emroth.’

   ‘More than you realize,’ the T’lan Imass replied.

Long Journeys

   Spoiler clearance: Reaper’s Gale

   Ragtag groups on long journeys to some obscure destinations are a staple of the Malazan world. Take Fiddler’s group in Deadhouse Gates. Or Lady Envy’s group in Memories of Ice. Or Karsa’s in House of Chains. Fear Sengar’s in Midnight Tides. Cutter’s in The Bonehunters. Silchas Ruin’s in Reaper’s Gale… It’s very much like a role-playing game indeed. Reminds me of my own ragtag group back in ’86: Dworl, my magic-user, and the mighty fighter Yohan, and the cleric Jalvik. We were quite dumb, though. But it was great. I don’t remember what we accomplished, when we finally reached one of our obscure destinations – but I seem to recall lots of dice-rolling and some messy arguments.

   Good times.

   But I love Hellian. Her ‘obscure destination’ is the best of all. Invading Letheras from tavern to tavern. I’ll drink to that!

   Spoiler clearance: Reaper’s Gale

   Seven hundred pages into Reaper’s Gale. I’d like to say this: the Tiste Edur are the worst invaders ever... The Letherii are dancing circles around them. I mean, the Romans wouldn’t have it. The Greeks wouldn’t have it. Nobody would have it but the Edur. Those Letherii guards are ordered to fetch Tomad and Uruth – and they barge into their private chambers with swords drawn! What would old Mark Anthony do? Five Gaul slaves barging into his room with swords drawn, because Caesar wants to see him? Mark Anthony kills the five obnoxious thugs. Later, he’ll just have to say: ‘Oh, these five? Killed them... Who cares. They’re just Gauls. We have a million of them at hand.’

   But the Tiste Edur continue to tolerate all that. I really do not understand. They let those guys keep their money and their influence and their positions of power, to what end? Isn’t that a bad strategy? They need some sort of Captain Kindly. A Captain-Kindly-of-the-Edur. One who has the balls to rise up and tell the Letherii: ‘Okay, listen up, you guys were vanquished, right? So we will crucify a thousand of you on every major road leading to Letheras, and then, you’ll behave.’

   When the Edur fleets were in Seven Cities, they were the most cruel raiders you’ll ever see. Slaughtered the Anibar. Genocided the peoples of Monkan, of Sepik. Why did they suddenly become so soft? Just cut off a few hundred Letherii heads – all the rest will start to work a lot better, then.