Update time! Now finished
Chapter 4.
In which a man decides to work lest grief consumes him, Quick Ben asks a question and gets some answers, a brother knows what happened to his two sisters, a squad steals back a table, two lovers are reunited and the Deck of Dragons is discussed.
Man, this one started so... breezy, for the lack of a better word, and then it became
a lot. At the start we have Buke's introductory scene (how/when did Erikson became so good at these?) and the discussion around it, the dynamics between the characters was ace (lighthearted with more than a hint of genuine worry for Buke) and then we pivot to the discussion about Korbal Broach and the apparent revelation
that he was behind a series of grisly murders in Darujhistan. Oh shit.
Then it's time for the heavy stuff... and how! In Pale, Quick Ben goes to visit a witch (who has access to the Warren of Tennes) to ask her questions. He gets mostly deflections until he insists with asking
why does Burn sleep? and gets told
"she sleeps to dream". Which can have some ugly consequences knowing that she's being poisoned/corrupted by TCG and her dreams can get... uglier. He wants to help and he gives the Witch one of those magical pebbles for... future use, we assume. Chekhov's pebble.
And after that is mostly *very* heavy stuff, including Ganoes finding out what happened to Tavore and Felisin (which makes his line "I'm sure Tavore will take care of Felisin" from only moments earlier VERY darkly funny) and that he's gotta meet Silverfox. Ganoes isn't in a good place right now, mentally speaking and it shows - it's *too much* for him. He's becoming cynical of his own abilities and usefulness, his own place in the world, the whole idea of the malazan soldiers becoming rulers and basically every shit that's happening to him right now. "Hey, my family's in complete ruins? Fuck it, blame it on me! I fucked up and started everything that led to this so blame it on me, IDGAF at this point". We do learn some interesting tidbits in this whole section (including that the malazan soldiers aren't 'trained' to become rulers of places they conquest, they just remain in place until malazan bureaucrats arrive and take over, plus controlling the black market through the Claw; or Ganoes telling WJ about 'what happened' when Rake killed the Hounds of Shadow and he got into Dragnipur, and WJ telling him to not mention it to Rake because essentially nobody had escaped Dragnipur ever before; or WJ telling Ganoes that Silverfox had
given him a new name in Rhivi, "Jen'isand Rul", the Wanderer within the Sword) but, to be honest, we're all expecting the conversation between Ganoes and Silverfox that is gonna happen.
Before that, however, we get a glimpse of Bridgeburners trying to steal back
THE TABLE that was already stolen by the Mott Irregulars. They want THE TABLE so they can run their Deck of Dragons scam once again. Shenanigans ensue. It backfires (lmao) and they realize there's something in the underside of THE TABLE,
an image of a figure with a dog's head on its chest. It's a new Card in the Deck, unaligned. And they can't get it out because of magical wards placed upon it, so the least they could do is copy it/make a replica. This section is funny and its levity is needed between the 'heavier' sections of the chapter, but it also serves to introduce something we'll come back during Ganoes and Silverfox talk...
And, about that talk - wow! It's obviously difficult for Ganoes considering his feelings for Tattersail but he also knows Silverfox isn't *quite* Tattersail (or Nightchill). It's also difficult for us because holy shit we learn some *stuff* now. So...
apparently the DoD and the Azath Houses are connected somehow (the "Houses" of the Deck being related to the Houses of the Azath); the nomenclature "House" derived from "Hold" (hence, the ancient version of the DoD that Felisin & co. found in that abandoned city in Raraku) and that, in times of the Elder Races, they basically meant the exact same thing; that "Finnest" is T'lan Imass for "Hold of Ice" and "Tremorlor" is Trellish for "House of Life"; we see Ganoes finally learn that Shadowthrone and Cotillion are (were) Kellanved and Dancer; Silverfox thinks that each Azath House has a gate to *every* Warren and that you get to choose inside; she also believes the Unaligned Cards of the DoD are either failed aspects or 'random forces' that need to balance the imposition of order the Deck and the Houses represent, and (even more importantly) that after his experience, Ganoes himself has become a new Unaligned *and* the Master of the Deck; Ganoes remembers the whole Wagon with Chains stuff inside Dragnipur (hence believing the gate under the wagon goes to the Warren of Darkness and the sword taking up souls is to seal that entrance) and he also dreams of "a child within a wound" (something from the prologue, ay!)... Silverfox tells him he shouldn't *from* it, but *towards* it.
Oh, that was a lot. Wasn't it?
But Ganoes, as I said previously, isn't in a good place. And he thinks he'll fail everybody anyway.
Oh, and Silverfox also said that
Ganoes shouldn't fear the T'lan Imass, they're gonna need them when they face the "horrors" inside the Pannion Domin. Nothing ominous about that, nooooo sir.
Thanks for reading this wall of text - it's only C4 but I'm quite enjoying this so far. Might be an 'easier' book to start than DG.
