Charon Deep Dives Malazan Book of the Fallen (Part One)

[Charon]

I started a reread of Malazan Book of the Fallen. It's been some time since I first read this series and I figured this is a great time to order my thoughts about the books while also introducing them to likeminded nerds who may find something of interest here.
It's worth noting that Malazan is a notoriously complex series, often compared to marmite. Readers either absolutely love it or absolutely hate it, no middle ground, so the first thing I want to do is discuss that complexity as it is the series' greatest strength.

At its core, Malazan Book of the Fallen is a decalogy that is epic in scope. If the most epic thing you've ever read is Lord of the Rings, you're missing out on many other great series and Malazan is one of the most epic, telling a tale spanning thousands of years and multiple continents that begins with the Malazan/Genabackis war before spilling out into multiple factions of gods and mortals trying to facilitate or prevent the freeing of the Crippled God from his chains.
And these aren't the only books set in this world. There are many other trilogies and another six book series in the same world, which started life as a GURPS campaign world.
The world of Malazan is a grimdark setting. Death, violence and mutilation are staples of the genre but Malazan doesn't shy away from the darkness. There is physical and mental trauma, dark revelations, a harrowing scene where Hetan is hobbled and gang raped, the forced continuous amnesia of Icarium, to prevent him doing something devastating, and some extremely unfortunate children. The world of Malazan is bleak but not without humour.

Another thing that makes the series so complex is the unusualness of its magic system. Hard magic is becoming more popular in fantasy and a soft magic system like in Malazan is another divisive element of the series. In particular, we are given little to no information about how magic works and what we do see is difficult to reconcile, but the magic in Malazan is inscrutable for a reason. Magic here doesn't follow rules, it is different from person to person, its boundaries unknown. One of the early questions people have is about the Warrens. Are they real physical space that magic is pulled from, or do they exist inside the wizard? The answer is yes and for some people, that's too much and that's only the surface. Trying to apply consistent rules and structure to Malazan magic will only fail, but there is some structure and the complex nature of warrens may make more sense as the series unfolds. You might think being a mage would be a fun thing, but no, in the grimdark world of Malazan, being a mage is generally a bad thing and for most will inevitably lead to their death. One of the saddest moments of the series for me is when Beak, a childlike simpleton but extremely powerful sorcerer, self-immolates while maintaining a protective dome over 800 soldiers.

The final thing that makes the series so complex is the vast cast of characters and many factions that make up the major players in this epic story. Men of the Malazan Empire are numerous as are other mortals. Then there are the gods, from newer upstarts such as Shadowthrone (the god of shadows), to the mysterious Hood (god of death), the bestial Trake (a tiger and god of battle) and the ancient Mael (god of the sea), to name but a few. Then there are those that straddle the line between mortals and gods, the ascendants. We'll cover these more as they appear in the novels but for example, one such notable player is Anomander Rake, the leader of the Tiste Andii (drow/dark elves), a people who are so ancient they have fallen into ennui. Anomander sails the skies in his flying fortress Moon's Spawn and carries a sword named Dragnipur that imprisons the souls of those slain by it, growing heavier which each life it claims, an evergrowing burden on a man with nearly 300'000 years under his belt. Oh and we have not one but two different types of dragon, the soletaken and the eleint. At one point there's an undead pirate with a parasitic vagina.

Ok, let's not get too much further into the deep insanity of the series. It's time to cover some specifics as I share my notes on the first book in the series.

Gardens of the Moon.

As we covered before, this series is complex and the beginning gives us no backstory or exposition. It assumes we are intelligent readers who will hit the ground running and keep up, learning what we need to as we go. For that reason, some of this early set dressing will fail to impress its significance upon us until much later, possibly even a second read.
The book opens with a scene in which a 12 year old boy, Ganoes Paran, meets a soldier of the Malazan Empire, from a unit known as the Bridgeburners. The two have a brief conversation about the boy's aspirations before two more characters arrive. One is another soldier, carrying a fiddle and though we do not know it yet, it will later become clear that these two soldiers are Whiskeyjack and Fiddler. The other arrival is named as Surly and we learn that she has killed the Emperor and has taken his place, setting herself up as Empress Laseen, a name that means Thronemaster. Again, the significance of this will remain a treat for a second read.
We leap immediately forward seven years and meet two dark figures who seem to be masking their true appearance with sorcery. They are up to something shady. They take a young girl and seem to wipe her mind or suppress her personality somehow, revealing little of their true motivations. One of them releases a pack of magical hounds that set about killing everything in a five mile radius. We learn that their names are Ammanas and Cotillion but right now, that means nothing to us.
We now see Ganoes Paran at 19, investigating this massacre. Also entering the story is the Adjunct Lorn, essentially the official embodiment of the will of the Empress. She is named as a magekiller, though how we do not yet know. Lorn is the one behind this investigation and with the information given to her by Ganoes Paran she realises that the massacre is a distraction to veil the fact that two people are missing from this village. A fisherman and his daughter. She instructs Paran to join her service, cover up this massacre and to investigate the records of recent recruits to the Malazan army to look for either a young girl or an old man.
We jump two years and see the mysterious young girl signing up for the Malazan army and requesting to serve under Dujek Onearm, the High Fist of the Genabackis campaign. She appears cold and calculating and gives her name as Sorry. As we still don't know the identity of the two men, specifically the one who named her thus, we can only speculate on the significance of this name. Was he sorry for what he did to her? Or what he intends for her to do? Maybe time will tell.
Back with Ganoes Paran, we meet Topper, a half-Tiste Andii and leader of the Claw, as was Surly before him. It's not explicitly stated who the Claw are but we can use context clues to infer that they are an organization of assassins at the service of the Empress. A portal opens and we get our first look at a Warren, in this case, the Imperial Warren, unclaimed by any god. It is a barren, desolate place that serves the purpose of speeding up travel. A short distance in the Imperial Warren is a much further distance in the real world. Emerging from the Warren, Ganoes meets the Empress, who remembers him from that conversation seven years ago. After that, Ganoes meets up with the Adjunct who reveals her plan to reassign him so the pair can continue to work together in secret. Ganoes returns home where we meet his younger sister Tavore and hear mention of his even younger sister, Felisin.
Characters are coming quick and fast and yet so far, all the people we've met will prove to be important players in the upcoming story and we're not done, not by a long chalk.

Our next scene takes place in Pale at the end of a three year long siege by Malazan forces. We see the high ranking wizard Tattersail standing among the dead. It's worth noting at this point that sorcerer and wizard are used interchangeably here, indeed Tattersail is referred to as both in just this one scene. She is in the company of one other mage, Hairlock, who has been torn in half and is now just a torso leaking entrails. Despite this, Hairlock is clinging to life with his sorcery and informs Tattersail he has a plan to escape death. Four soldiers arrive, a grizzled veteran, two black men and a fifteen year old girl. Tattersail recognises them as Bridgeburners, the Emperor's Elites who fell from grace after his demise and are now assigned only the most dangerous tasks, ensuring their ever dwindling numbers. She recognises Whiskeyjack as the sergeant and now we know which unit Sorry was attached to.
Tattersail recognises the tremendous magical power of one of the other men and is surprised she doesn't know him, given her position. Whiskeyjack names him as Quick Ben while the mage converses with the dying Hairlock. Everything about this scene, from Tattersail's surprise to the fact that he is conversing with Hairlock should be warning us that there is more to Quick Ben than meets the eye.
We flash back just briefly, to witness how the siege ended. A meeting takes place between Dujek Onearm, commander of the forces besieging Pale and four of the Empire's High Mages, Tattersail, Tayschrenn, Calot and Hairlock. Each of the mages is on edge, not only because they can sense each other's power, which causes discomfort, but because they can sense the power emanating from something floating high above the city. Moon's Spawn, a floating fortress. From it, the warlord Caladan Brood has led Tiste Andii wizards to defend Pale, essentially stalemating the conflict. It's not Brood they fear, who is human, but his companion, the enigmatic leader of the Tiste Andii, Anomander Rake. Specifically the mages can sense the presence of the Tiste Andii Warren, Kurald Galain. The Tiste Andii are a race from the Elder Age, long before man existed and the wizards remember an ancient poem that mentions both Anomander and Caladan, suggesting that the latter may be older than the average human by some margin. We also hear brief mention that Empress Laseen has an army of undead called the T'lan Imass, a simple namedrop now but sure to rear their heads again later. Tayschrenn is outlining the Empress's plan for a magical assault upon Moon's Spawn, confident that Anomander will refuse to fully commit to the conflict as he has done in the past.
Side note, there are a few spinoff books that detail the early days of the Tiste and how they split off into the Tiste Andii, the Tiste Edur and the Tiste Liosan (dark, grey, sun elves kinda). It also covers how their leaders became Father Light and Mother Dark, now their two gods, which is when the Warrens of Kurald Galain, Kurald Emerlahn and Kurald Thyrllan were formed. The depths of Malazan lore are kinda crazy. Anyway, we won't see the other Tiste offshoots for some time. For now just be aware that these guys embody darkness, but not necessarily in an evil way. In fact Malazan is designed to avoid the traditional trope of good vs evil and dabbles almost entirely in the grey murk between.
We're nearly done in Pale. We see the assault on Moon's Spawn with roughly 14'000 Malazans facing off against 'thousands upon thousands' of Great Ravens, ravens with 15 foot wingspans, that emerge from the fortress. The Malaz mages throw sorcery at Moon's Spawn, Anomander appears and hurls sorcery back. It goes bad for Malaz, 9000 soldiers killed along with all the mages bar Tayschrenn, Tattersail and Hairlock but then Moon's Spawn retreats, the Malazan Army wins and Pale is conquered.
During the fight, one thing of note is that we learn that Tattersail uses the Thyr Warren, while Calot uses Mockra. We'll also hear Denul mentioned later and we understand that these are not Elder Warrens. It seems that each mage has access to one warren that flavours their magic. We also see Tattersail describing it as opening her warren to unleash her magic. This is what confuses a lot of people early on as it seems to contradict what we know about the Imperial Warren from earlier, which was a physical place Ganoes Paran travelled through. My understanding of it is that each Warren is kind of a plane of existence (more on that much much later, when we learn how they were formed), but that a mage can essentially invoke or evoke that Warren's energies, either opening a link to it inside themselves to channel the power and cast magic, or opening a a link to it directly, manifesting a portal in order to travel there. It's complicated and weird and it's gonna get weirder but for now, that's what we're working with.
We catch up to our original scene with Tattersail, the Bridgeburners and the dying Hairlock who reveals to Tattersail that they were betrayed by Tayschrenn who was the one who killed him. Quick Ben opens a Warren that Tattersail doesn't recognise and places a package wrapped in hide against the mage's chest as he dies. Afterwards he hands the package to Tattersail and tells her to open it when she's alone in her tent. We learn that the Bridgeburners are being assigned to Darujhistan next, that the second black man is an assassin called Kalam and that Quick Ben is scared of Sorry, for reasons unknown.
Tattersail returns to her tent, we learn that she is 219 years old and that she has a magical artefact called the Deck of Dragons that is like a tarot deck. Before she can toy with it, the package makes a noise. She opens it to find an intricately carved marionette with clothes and a hat that talks to her. It's Hairlock! Tattersail is gobsmacked as the magic to perform a soul transfer has been lost for over a thousand years.
At this point we should be noticing just how insanely powerful Quick Ben is for a simple squad mage. He used a warren that Tattersail, a 219 year old high Mage doesn't recognise, to cast magic lost for over a thousand years. Sus.
Anyways, Hairlock wants Tattersail to go to his tent and get his spellbook before Tayschrenn remembers to steal it, but first he tells her to draw from the Deck of Dragons. She draws the Knight of Dark, now recognising it as Anomander Rake. Next she draws Oponn, the two faced jester, god of Luck, both bad, in his male form, or good in his female form. The female side is up and Tattersail hears a sound that Hairlock doesn't, like a coin spinning. She stops there. Hairlock rages that no one holds on the fool and that she should continue to play but she seems satisfied that she has earned Oponn's blessing and that good luck is on her side. The Deck of Dragons is confusing as hell and we'll run into it some more later on.
By the way, if this whole scene of Hairlock putting his soul in the marionette sounds vaguely familiar it's because it's the plot of 1988 horror film, Child's Play, in which dying serial killer Charles Lee Ray uses voodoo to transfer his soul into a child's doll after a shootout in a toy store. I'm sure that's just a coincidence. While we're on a tangent, that poem about Anomander we mentioned earlier? In it, he is named as Anomandaris. People and things with multiple names is a theme that's gonna crop up more often as we get further in. When you're dealing with beings this old, names change over time as language changes so there's gonna be a bit of this. Also some disguises. Ok, one last side note before we move on. Let us not forget, Hairlock prepared for this moment. We have to assume he somehow foresaw his own death and somehow knew Quick Ben would be able to provide him with this 'get out of death' free card. Already we're seeing such big plays and we've barely started. Final note is that Quick Ben didn't do this for free. He negotiated something unknown with Hairlock as he lay dying. Will we find out the price of Hairlock's salvation later?

Into chapter three and now we have a grasp on who some of the characters are we can skip a few details and just pick at the important threads. We see Ganoes Paran again, two years after we last saw him. Topper arrives by warren and tells him they've found Sorry. They think she is the pawn of a god, though not which one, and want Ganoes to go to Darujhistan and take command of Whiskeyjack's squad without letting Sorry know that they are onto her. Meanwhile, as the Bridgeburners discuss their plans, we learn that Quick Ben and Kalam think Sorry is a Claw assassin sent by the Empress to kill someone.
Tattersail meets with Tayschrenn, but doesn't mention the betrayal. Tayschrenn gets Tattersail to read the Deck of Dragons as he is having trouble doing so. She draws a couple of cards indicating that the reading applies to the upcoming events in Darujhistan before drawing two significant players. The Assassin of Shadow, aka the Rope, the Patron of Assassins. She hears hounds howling in the distance. She comments that High House Shadow is relatively new in god terms and that The Rope serves Shadowthrone. Hopefully you're piecing a few things together here. Next she draws the Virgin of House Death. She notes the interesting design of the card, with the virgin blindfolded. It seems the pictures on the Deck of Dragons change as needed to fit the persons playing these roles and in this case, the face changes even as Tattersail views it. Tattersail suspects that this card is Sorry.
What I love about this is that although the various factions only have pieces of the puzzle, we as the reader can piece together what they know and figure the bigger picture out. Ganoes and co know Sorry is the puppet of a god but not which one, Quick Ben and Kalam know that Sorry is an assassin but not who she serves, and Tattersail knows that Sorry is somehow linked to the Rope and by association, Shadowthrone. We can now surmise that the two men at the start, Ammanas and Cotillion were actually Shadowthrone and the Rope, the god and assassin of shadow. They intend to use Sorry to assassinate someone and tried to cover their tracks so it couldn't be linked back to them. She is controlled or possessed by the Rope. As for who their target is, given how quickly Sorry asked to be assigned to Dujek Onearm (and yet hasn't killed him) we can presume the target is someone whom Dujek will come into contact with. Coupled with Tattersail's deck reading, we could assume that this target is waiting in Darujhistan.
For now, Ganoes Paran makes his way to Pale, helped by a guide, a one-eyed Claw named Toc the Younger. He arrives at Pale and begins looking for Whiskeyjack. He comes across some new Bridgeburners we haven't met yet, Mallet, Hedge and Trotts. They tell him where to look for Whiskeyjack but shortly after leaving the bar, Ganoes is assassinated. As he lays dying we overhear conversation. Someone calls the assassin sloppy and when they answer we realise it is Sorry. Or, more specifically, as the two converse, this is Shadowthrone and Cotillion, who is possessing Sorry. Shadowthrone says someone is trespassing in the Warren of Shadow and his hounds are hunting for them. They reveal that their target is Laseen and that they wish to bring about the fall of the Malazan Empire that she rules but never earned. We learn that the Rope has assassinated Ganoes in order to draw the Adjunct into the fray. As the pair leave Ganoes, he hears a coin spinning.

Tattersail meets up with the Bridgeburners and tells Whiskeyjack that she thinks Hairlock has gone insane in his new body. Quick Ben claims that's not surprising but that he has it under control. He mentions that Hairlock is working for the Bridgeburners, trying to find out who wants them dead and is slipping through the warrens "the unconventional way" as the regular paths are all trip-wired. Wtf? Just when we thought we understood how warrens worked, what is this now? It gets weirder. Tattersail says Hairlock is using the paths between warrens and that's a bad thing for everyone. When Whiskeyjack asks for an explanation, Quick Ben adds that it weakens the warrens, which allows Hairlock to break in and out of them, but that they have no choice.
Personally, I figure the point he's trying to make here is that Hairlock is travelling directly from warren to warren without returning to the material world in between, but yeah, this is confusing. I guess this means Hairlock is the one Shadowthrone detected in the warren of shadow?
Anyway, at this point Whiskeyjack tells Quick Ben to tell Tattersail what they know about Sorry. Quick Ben tells Tattersail about the incident from the start of the book. He knows the Adjunct tried to cover it up and he knows about the hounds. He's followed the logic. Adjunct Lorn is a mage killer, this incident must have been magical, dogs were involved. Tattersail quickly reaches the same conclusion. The seven hounds of shadow, in service to Shadowthrone and the Rope. Tattersail wonders why the warren of shadow keeps crossing paths with the Malazan Empire. Kalam offhandedly mentions how odd it is that the warren only appeared following the Emperor's assassination. Shadowthrone and Cotillion were unheard of before Kellanved and Dancer's deaths. Woah buddy. Slow down. Who are those guys? Well. If you can't figure out that Kellanved must be the Emperor then you're gonna struggle going forward. Which makes Dancer, Cotillion, aka the Rope. I told you multinames were gonna be important.
Tattersail curses herself over how obvious it now seems with hindsight. She is confused about the warren though, asking Quick Ben if there hasn't always been an accessible warren of shadow. She names it Rashan, the warren of illusions.
Quick Ben tells her Rashan is a false warren, a literal shadow of what it represents, an illusion itself. Not even the gods know who created it or where it came from. Quick Ben says the true warren of shadow had been closed for millennia until 1154th year of Burn's Sleep (the year Surly took the throne of the Empire), nine years ago. The earliest writings of house shadow suggest its throne was originally occupied by the Tiste Edur. Tattersail does not know the Tiste Edur, Quick Ben only knows they are some relation to the Tiste Andii, nothing further. Ultimately, everyone now pegs Sorry as an agent of House Shadow.
This whole time, Fiddler has been pacing around and now mutters that he has a bad feeling. This perks the Bridgeburners up. It seems Fiddler's bad feelings are usually important. Tattersail asks where Sorry is. The Bridgeburners bail en masse, out into the streets of Pale.
Let's take a quick moment to mention Burn's Sleep. This is the focal point of the Malazan dating system, much like how we use the birth of Christ as a marker for BC/AD. Burn is an Elder Goddess and time is measured from before and after she fell asleep. It's possible that Burn literally is the earth, as in the planet this story takes place on. We'll get some more info about Burn later but as we may need to mention dates I figured now was a good time to bring it up. Also, before we continue, remember how we left Ganoes and what the sound of a spinning coin might represent. Shadowthrone is not the only god meddling with current mortal affairs.

Bam, Ganoes wakes up in a weird place and comes face to face with Oponn. Oponn is a single god, but is twins. A Lord and a Lady, bad luck and good luck, two sides of the same coin. Oponn mentions that he likes Ganoes' sword and Ganoes laments giving it such a silly name in his idealistic youth. We don't know the name yet, but we can assume it references Oponn. Oponn tells Ganoes he has been murdered. Ganoes asks why he hasn't passed through Hood's Gate. Oponn tells him it's because they are meddling. Oponn calls out Hood but instead, one of Hood's servants appears. Oponn is offended that the god of death won't talk in person but demands Ganoes be returned to life, claiming that as he was killed by a god, he's fair game. Hood's servant says there will be a price. Despite Ganoes' protestations, Oponn agrees. Someone close to Ganoes will have to bear the price. Uh-oh.
Oponn leaves and almost immediately Shadowthrone arrives, flanked by a pair of hounds. He's come to finish Ganoes off but Ganoes taunts him, he tells Shadowthrone someone has intervened on his behalf. Shadowthrone is eager to learn who opposes him but Ganoes won't tell and points out that if he dies, Shadowthrone will be none the wiser. The only way to know, would be to keep tabs on Ganoes in the mortal world. Shadowthrone seems to accept this. He keeps talking but Ganoes only hears a spinning coin as he is pulled back to the mortal world. He has a strange vision of his past being subtly altered as he makes his way back to life.

Two Bridgeburners, Antsy and Picker who we briefly met earlier, have found Ganoes' dead body. He's been dead for an hour then he suddenly starts screaming. In a panic they rush to get Mallet, the healer.

Tattersail is reading the Deck of Dragons, a full reading using all the cards. She's drawn a downward spiral with them, an ill omen. At the bottom, an image of a hound. She realizes House Shadow and Oponn stand in direct opposition. At the top of the spiral, the Mason of House Death, described as a grey bearded man with tough arms and holding stonecutting tools. We do not know who this is yet but can soon guess. The Knight of House Dark appears again, halfway down the spiral, the card now shows the Knight wielding a smoking black sword, pointed at the hound. It seems there is no alliance between Darkness and Shadow. Tattersail is interrupted as Quick Ben arrives via warren. He tells her Hairlock is coming.

We see Whiskeyjack and Fiddler, reminiscing about old times, including before they became soldiers, when they were both stonecutters. Hang on, Fiddler is a red head, but Whiskeyjack... he has grey hair and a beard. :O Well in case you didn't pick up on it, now it's been handed to you, a rare treat for Malazan. Whiskeyjack is the Mason of House Death and a major player in our current events.

Back with Tattersail, Quick Ben and now Kalam, QB alerts the others that the hounds have caught Hairlock's trail. It seems he is able to monitor the doll somehow, keeping tabs on him remotely. He's hovering above the floor in a sitting position while he does so. Tattersail has a sudden revelation. Surely these idiots aren't using Hairlock as bait to lure a hound? Kalam assures her that's not the idea as that would be insane.
Mallet enters, to inform them that Ganoes Paran lives and should recover fully. He mentions that the first blow was fatal, the second was to ensure that if he survived the first he would still bleed out, there is no way he could have survived naturally and could only have been saved via divine intervention. He uses the warren of Denul for healing and explains that healing is normally done naturally, a mage heals the body and mind of the trauma at the same time. Ganoes has been denied that synchronicity and may find it hard mentally as the divine intervention healed only his body. Quick Ben announces that the attack on Paran came from Shadow and thus whoever saved him directly opposes them. He looks at Tattersail, who says nothing. The Bridgeburners leave Ganoes in Tattersail's care, saying they'll be gone before he awakes or Hairlock arrives, as they head to Darujhistan, the last Free City on Genabackis.
Back with the Bridgeburners, Sorry appears and gets a dressing down from Kalam over her absence but no one accuses her of murdering Ganoes yet.



Hopefully this image of Shadowthrone and his hound will give you a sense of scale for the following events.
A hound arrives in Pale, the size of a mule with teeth as long as a man's thumb. The seventh of seven. It's name is Gear. It knows that what it tracks is not human, this being that has trespassed in the warren of shadow and triggered all of Shadowthrone's wards. He follows the scent, arriving at the estate where Tattersail and co are located.

Tattersail can't sleep. As she lays, trying to order her thoughts, Hairlock arrives. He arrogantly regales her with tales of how he eluded the detection of the hounds. From outside, we hear the screams as Gear assaults the guards. Hairlock panics, hiding in his box and commanding Tattersail to kill the hound. She is less than confident about her chances. She opens her warren, barely having time to erect her magical defences as Gear smashes his way through her door. The sense of its power overwhelms Tattersail as she realises just how old this creature is. It charges her, her outer defences don't even touch it and only her close defences, a layer of high wards, save her life as she is flung backwards, making a dent in the brick wall. The hound is stunned briefly but Tattersail can barely raise one blood-soaked arm in defence.
Hairlock bursts from his box, taunting the hound and opens his warren in the room. A pestilent aura radiates from Hairlock, causing Tattersail to vomit. Gear tries to fight against the magic with his own.
Paran totters into the room, swathed in blankets. As Gear and Hairlock face off, he reveals his sword beneath the blankets and lunges for the hound, sinking the blade deep inside the beast's chest. As he pulls it free, Gear howls in pain, opens the warren of shadow and dives through. Tattersail comments on what a lucky blow Ganoes' sword just struck. Hairlock curses Oponn and says that Tayschrenn will be here soon, tell him nothing of this. Tattersail passes out but as she does, Paran asks her what she hears. She tells him she hears a coin, a spinning coin.

[Charon]

We're finally in Darujhistan! And it's time for some new characters. We meet Kruppe, a man who appears to be wandering in his dream where he meets six beggars that represent some facet of his personality. Kruppe is an odd man, overweight with a flowery and loquacious mode of speech and with a mind to challenge the gods in the upcoming affairs.
We also meet Crokus Younghand, who is breaking into the D'Arle estate to steal jewellry.
Finally, we meet Talo, an assassin. He's just been shot by another assassin, or so he thinks. He's bleeding out from the wound and climbs a belfry to try and get a good view of his attacker.
Crokus leaves the D'Arle estate via the rooftops. Talo mistakes him for his attacker and shoots at him but Crokus hears a coin drop to the floor and bends over to look for it (thanks, Oponn!). Sad times for Talo as his actual pursuer has climbed the belfry too and stabs him before throwing him off the tower. The pursuer sees Crokus, Crokus sees the pursuer. A rooftop chase takes place, with two more assassins joining the hunt. Crokus eventually manages to ditch his predators by slipping into a busy pub. We note that they are not human, having odd shaped eyes and speaking a foreign language. Even on a second read it's not super obvious what race they are but we'll find out later.
We learn one detail about Darujhistan. It has gas pipes that run under the city, providing gas lighting throughout. I'm sure that's not casual foreshadowing at all.
We also now see Crone, the matron of the Great Ravens and learn she is around a thousand years old. She's flying high above the city, looking for someone.

Ok time to meet some more Darujhistan natives. We see a guard, who mentally calls himself Circle Breaker, the spy. He is observing two councilmen meeting in secret, one of which is Councilman Turban Orr.
We see an alchemist called Baruk who is disturbed when Crone pecks at his window. He is distrustful of Crone at first but she explains she comes from Moon's Spawn and that her Lord wishes to meet Baruk within the hour. Baruk agrees but they are interrupted by the arrival of Turban Orr. Crone disguises herself as a hound, using illusion not shapechanging, and stays to observe the meeting. Turban Orr is seeking Baruk's support in a vote to issue a proclamation of neutrality to the Malazans. Baruk seems less than interested and Turban Orr is sent away. The importance of this scene is the revelation that Baruk is well respected among the mages of Darujhistan and that the cabal of wizards are the real power behind the city.
Baruk suddenly feels a tremendous pressure that leaves him physically sweating and shaking and all the lights in the room go out as Anomander Rake makes his first appearance. Black skinned, silver hair, vertical pupilled eyes that shift colours. On his back is the six and a half foot bastard sword, Dragnipur, that seems to bleed inky magical blackness. Anomander seeks an alliance with the mages of Darujhistan. Baruk suggests such an alliance would be worthless given that Anomander bailed on Pale where he had a similar alliance with their wizards. Anomander claims he fought that battle alone and had to retreat as Pale's wizards had already fled the city when the assault came. In the aftermath, he hunted them down and found all but two, who he believes are hiding in Darujhistan. With this new information, Baruk agrees to the alliance.
We also meet Rallick Nom, an assassin. He is spying on the Lady Simtal and another councilman. It appears that Simtal is playing with the councillors, using sex as a weapon to gain political information. Nom seems like he is about to assassinate her in vengeance for someone she wronged, but hears whispers in his head (much debate about this but the consensus is that this is Oponn intervening again). He instead shoots the councilman and makes his escape, running into a fellow assassin called Ocelot who informs him about Talo's death and the possibility of a secret assassin war.
Nom heads to the pub to meet his friends. They are, Kruppe, who we have already met and we now learn is a mage, Coll, a drunk, and Murillio, a dandy.

We're back in Kruppe's dream. He finds a hooded figure, its face shrouded, warming its hands in fire. Kruppe joins the figure, who reveals that he is worried that his followers are no more. After a moment of silence, Kruppe suggests that the figure might be an Elder God and asks his name. The figure reveals that he is K'rul and he has awakened because blood was spilled in his temple. (This would be the death of Talo, in the belfry, earlier.) K'rul tells Kruppe to seek the T'lan Imass who will lead the woman, while he prepares for a battle he expects to lose. Kruppe thinks K'rul is being used. K'rul suggests that if this is true, the Child Gods have made a grave error and states that every God falls at a mortal's hands, such is the only end to immortality. Kruppe considers the portentousness of those closing words. We already know Kruppe intends to face off against the gods. Perhaps now he thinks to kill one?

We have a scene with Circle Breaker here. He writes a plea for help, presumably to hand to the Eel (his superior that he sends his spy reports to), as he worries that he cannot match wits with Councilman Orr. He ultimately tears the plea up and disposes of it in the river. We hear Oponn's coin spin and note that the sound is sad. We get a snippet of information that the Pannion Seer has annexed two distant cities.

Now over to Lady Simtal who is in post-coitus discussion with Turban Orr. He thinks the assassination was a coincidence, she is less than convinced. It seems the death caused by Rallick Nom broke the majority Councilman Orr held the night before the vote for neutrality. We get a little back and forth between the pair, hints that Lady Simtal's husband is now her ex, a drunk who hasn't sobered up since he was thrown out, and that Simtal wants him dead. You might be able to piece that together now, or maybe not.

Over to Murillio who is seducing a woman in order to acquire an invitation to Lady Simtal's party. This is already growing complicated but this will all come back around, don't worry. He acquires two tickets, one for him, one for Rallick, whose plan this is.

Crokus meets with Kruppe, who it seems has been serving as a fence for the thief's stolen goods. Crokus gave Kruppe the jewels from the D'Arle estate to sell but now he wants them back. It seems Crokus might have fallen for the maiden D'Arle, who he glimpsed asleep as he did his thieving. Crokus is fiddling with a coin as Kruppe agrees to return the goods later. Kruppe enquires about the coin. It is the coin that saved Crokus' life, double headed, one male, one female. Kruppe distracts Crokus and surreptitiously takes a wax impression of the coin.

High Alchemist Baruk spills red ink over a map of the Malazan Empire. The ink covers Darujhistan and continues south to Catlin. The omen is not lost on the alchemist. He heads to the window, to see what caused the commotion that distracted him to find a team of road workers digging up the street. Another distraction as Kruppe arrives. Kruppe annoys Baruk by over elaborately telling him about the Assassin's war taking place and the losses the guild is taking. Baruk is only partially interested. Baruk is about to dismiss Kruppe but he goes on to talk, rather flower...ly, about Oponn. Baruk takes the hint. Kruppe produces the wax impression of the coin. Baruk is worried. Baruk is a man of plans, of order. Oponn is the god of chance, of unpredictability. He opens his warren to examine the wax impression but it reacts, spinning in the air until it disintegrates. Baruk wants to know who the coinbearer is but Kruppe tries to hide it. Baruk warns him to protect the Coinbearer, until it can be determined which face of Oponn's favours him, the Lady or the Lord. He warns him that if the Coinbearer serves the Lord, Rallick may be needed to take him out.

Meanwhile, outside Darujhistan, Whiskeyjack and his squad of Bridgeburners are up to shenanigans. They have secured some explosives from the Moranth legion and Fiddler and Hedge are two happy sappers. Whiskeyjack tells Kalam to assemble the squad so he can outline his plan which is not the plan devised by the Empress and her tacticians, intended as it seems, to get the Bridgeburners killed. Instead of mining the city gates the squad will be split in two. Kalam, Quick Ben and Sorry on one and Whiskeyjack leading the remainder on the other. It is noted that the explosives consist of "Cussers all the way to Smokers". We'll get some info about those later.
Meanwhile, Quick Ben uses magic to scry on Hairlock. The doll is pretty insane and is wandering the Warren of Chaos, which QB thinks is making him even more insane. Hairlock claims he can master the Warren despite Quick Ben's warnings and tells QB he knows nothing, but it seems Quick Ben has been here before and recognises the location.
Quick Ben enquires about Tattersail and Hairlock tells him the sorceress is unconscious after being attacked by Gear and that Tayschrenn is furious and suspicious. Quick Ben is surprised that Paran managed to stab Gear with a normal sword. Hairlock concurs that this shouldn't be possible and that gods are involved and that Quick Ben is purposefully keeping him out of the loop. If you don't love Quick Ben yet, you will. :) This guy plays some four dimensional chess. :P

Ok, back to Toc the Younger, remember him? XD He's three days out from Pale crossing the Rhivi Plain. The Rhivi are nomads who have allied with Caladan Brood's Crimson Guard against the Malazan Empire. Toc finds the corpses of a unit of Malazan Marines, an elite division called the Jakatakan. It seems that they fought against some Barghast (not Barghest like DnD, more a race of Barbarians, we'll talk about them when they become more prominent). Anyway, one of the dead Barghast is a shaman. He notices how weird it is that the shaman was killed by a sword not by magic.
A short distance away, Adjunct Lorn and her remaining guard are being stalked by Barghast. The fight goes poorly for the Malazans and soon Lorn's guard detail is dead and she lies on the floor with a dislocated shoulder rendering her sword arm unusable. She is saved by an undead warrior who rises from the sands and kills the Barghast. As Toc arrives, Lorn admonishes the undead for not arriving sooner. Toc is surprised to see the undead, a T'lan Imass, three hundred thousand years old and still held together by ancient sorcery. It names itself as Onos T'oolan (and mentions the sixth Jaghut war, oh god we haven't talked about the Jaghut yet or Gothos' Folly! For now, let's quickly point out that Baruk has copies of Gothos' Folly which is an ancient tome of wisdom, kinda like Sun Tzu's Art of War but older and is how some humans know things about the Elder Age before humanity existed).
Anyways, Toc introduces himself. It turns out the Adjunct knew his father. Toc puts her arm in a sling then retrieves her sword which he notices has a red blade as it is made of Otataral, an ore that kills magic. Ahhhh. Now that makes sense, huh? Lorn the Mageslayer has an antimagic sword. She points out that Otataral cannot kill a T'lan Imass (it's been tried) but their warrens are too similar to those of the Jaghut and the Forkrul Assail, Elder, blood and earthbound. Onos' flint sword will never break. (Don't worry about the Forkrul Assail, we'll get to them much later, for now just remember the name). Toc and Lorn ride Toc's horse back to Pale while Onos T'oolan will find his own way there.

How are you liking it so far? Ready for it to get fucking weird? We're nearly there.
Ganoes Paran is back at the house in Pale as Tattersail awakes. He's pondering the situation, unaware of the events that occurred during his 'death' and with only vague memories of attacking the hound which he suspects will survive the wound. Hairlock has not been forthcoming with information and Paran thinks Hairlock is scared of Tattersail after seeing her face off against Gear. Indeed, the puppet told him the sorceress protected herself with wards before passing out and has somehow hidden Paran's presence from Tayschrenn. Paran is pretty sure Hairlock wants to kill Tattersail.
Tattersail awakes and tells Paran she heard the coin drop. Paran is chilled but knows not why. Tattersail tells him that Whiskeyjack kept him alive because he wants to know who assassinated him. Not Sorry, obviously, pretty sure everyone thinks Sorry did it, but more specifically, who? Tattersail informs Paran that he survived the assassination due to the intervention of a god but that the act was not altruism. When she voices her suspicions about Oponn, Paran fetches his sword. The sword he named the day he bought it, three years ago. Chance. It seems Oponn may have had plans for Ganoes Paran for some time.
Tattersail tells Paran that Hairlock opened the warren of chaos, diametrically opposed to her own warren, Thyr, which led as much to her unconsciousness (for the last six days!) as the attack by Gear. She claims Hairlock has vowed to kill Paran but fears Paran's sword after seeing it wound Gear. It seems the reason Hairlock has not killed Tattersail is not out of fear of the sorceress but out of fear of Paran. He lied about the sorceress' protective wards.

Adjunct Lorn arrives at Pale. She has a meeting with Dujek Onearm, it seems the two are friends or at least, not enemies. He offers her access to a Denul healer but she claims magic no longer works on her and hasn't done for a long time. Lorn learns that the usual Malazan cull of the nobility will take place but Tayschrenn seems to have taken it up a notch, imposing the hanging of nine out of ten nobles, children included. Lorn is less than impressed at this heavy handedness. There's a lot of subtle politics here that I won't dig deep into right now but we'll summarize the situation in a while. For now, Lorn and Dujek discuss tactics of the upcoming campaign against Caladan Brood's forces. Remember, Lorn is, for all intents and purposes, the voice of the Empress. Lorn makes casual inquiry into the events at Pale, the presence of the Hound and Tattersail's intervention. There's something suspicious here, some history between Lorn and Tattersail.
Tayschrenn arrives, fuming, he suspects Dujek's involvement. There has been a fire at the Hall of Records, where the city's census lists are kept. That's going to make his cull somewhat more difficult to enforce. Lorn dismisses Dujek and requests his presence at a formal dinner, with Tattersail and Toc also present. Tayschrenn seems angry at that too, suggesting Tattersail is in no fit state. Dujek leaves and Lorn immediately rips Tayschrenn a new asshole for pushing up against Dujek. He suggests that Dujek was loyal to the Emperor. Lorn says he is loyal to the Empire and more than that, has ten thousand plus soldiers loyal to him. Tayschrenn suggests Dujek is a traitor. Lorn says if Dujek is forced to turn, then "we're the traitors". Tayschrenn is struggling with the political depths of these shenanigans.
With a sigh, Lorn explains the situation. Yes, the old guard must disappear. All who stood with the Emperor must be killed lest they work against the Empress consciously or unconsciously. Dujek is the exception, with a handful of others like him. Whiskeyjack and his squad of Bridgeburners are not on the exception list. Nor is Tattersail.
The takeaway point here is not that Dujek isn't considered a threat, but that if he were to turn against the Empire he would be an even bigger threat. His loyalty keeps him in check.
Anyway, Tayschrenn tells Lorn that he has read the Deck of Dragons and is convinced that Oponn has entered the world of mortal affairs, he believes Tattersail's reading confirmed that fact. He also tells her that he thinks Tattersail and Whiskeyjack are in league and that someone is hiding Ganoes Paran or his body. Tayschrenn suspects he's dead but that his soul hasn't yet passed through Hood's Gate. He thinks Tattersail is the one preventing it happening.
Lorn absorbs all the information. She tells Tayschrenn to ignore his role managing the occupation of Pale and instead to help Dujek plan for Oponn's involvement in the campaign.

Tattersail is toying with her feelings for Paran. It seems there is romantic tension building between the two. Someone knocks on her door and she casts a spell to make Ganoes invisible as she answers, finding a marine summoning her to Dujek's formal supper. She asks who else will be present and realises Lorn is here. When the messenger leaves, Tattersail is surprised to see that Paran expected Lorn's arrival. Tattersail realises now that Paran and Lorn were in cahoots and that he may be in on the plan to kill Whiskeyjack and his squad.

Toc arrives for the supper, wondering why the Adjunct invited him. Dujek breaks the ice by talking about his arm stump, allowing Toc to joke about his eye. The mood is settled, Dujek it seems, knew Toc the Elder. Tattersail enters and Lorn begins to speak about an incident in her childhood, when she was 11. The situation as Lorn tells it happened in Malaz City when an edict against sorcery was issued and a cadre of Empire mages was sent into the Mouse Quarter to cleanse it. It seems the squad were rookies and were a little over zealous. It seems Lorn's family were killed in the event and Lorn herself, mentally scarred. Tattersail was one of those mages. The situation is tense, Lorn wants Tattersail's head as justice. Tattersail is inclined to allow it. Dujek intervenes, pointing out that everyone present had committed their share of horrors under the Emperor and that such crimes died with him. He also points out that he sent Whiskeyjack in to rein in the mages at the time. The Adjunct spits that this has the taste of a god's name. Dujek also points out that Lorn is that Lorn no more. She is now Empress Laseen. The child known as Lorn ceased to exist the day she became the Adjunct. Lorn sees the truth of this. She relents and the dinner continues. Eventually, Lorn grills Tattersail about the presence of Gear, warning her that the gods are intervening in the events in Darujhistan. Tattersail agrees that Oponn is taking a central role and Tayschrenn adds that though Shadowthrone is suspected of being involved, he hasn't detected his attention.
Tattersail goes on to lie about how Gear arrived, blaming it on the Deck of Dragons. Tayschrenn wonders why then, did Gear not appear directly in her room instead of out in the streets. Tattersail blames that on her protective wards that are of High Thyr. Tayschrenn seems surprised to learn that. As for how she fought him off, she blames it on luck, i.e. direct intervention by Oponn though to what end she doesn't know. Gods are unpredictable and none moreso than Oponn. The Adjunct points out that Oponn is not the first god to try and manipulate the Malazan Empire and that others have failed. Then she turns on Toc and asks his opinion on the information he just heard. Toc realises now that the Adjunct wanted him here in his capacity as a Claw to judge the truthfulness of the others. He back Tattersail up, claiming she speaks true even though he suspects her false. In Toc's eyes, he acts not as a Claw but as a soldier of the 2nd. Soldiers and mages in the army have an unerring loyalty given how often one group will save the life of the other. Many times, mages have saved Toc's life. Now he is returning the favour.

As Tattersail returns to her quarters later we see that she knew Toc lied for her and understood the reason why. Paran has a message from Hairlock that the Adjunct did not arrive alone. Tattersail has her suspicions as to what he meant. Paran tells her that Hairlock said the Adjunct and her companion would be leaving Pale soon and that he intended to track them. Tattersail confronts Paran about his involvement in the plan to kill Whiskeyjack. He tells her about Sorry, including the events at the start of the book. Paran has pieced it together, he knows The Rope is possessing Sorry. Tattersail tells him that she believes Lorn has a T'lan Imass with her, as per Hairlock's hint, and that if the mission was only to kill Sorry, she wouldn't need the Imass as her Otataral sword would be enough to kill not only Sorry, but The Rope too. She worries that if the T'lan Imass catches Quick Ben unawares, the mage might not be able to defend the squad despite his power. Tattersail has a plan to smuggle Paran out of the city, while she will head to Darujhistan to lend aid to Whiskeyjack. The romantic tension returns and they do the funky business.

Lorn leaves Pale at dawn accompanied by Onos T'oolan who she calls Tool. As they talk, Onos reveals that his clan survived the 28th Jaghut War. He mentions the Imass mages, Bone Casters. Lorn is aware that she knows of only one Bone Caster, named Olar Ethil. The history of the Imass is debated. Apparently the Emperor knew a lot about them but purposely kept few records. Many believe he reawakened the Imass. Onos reveals he met the Emperor and bowed before him when he sat upon the First Throne. Lorn casually inquires where the First Throne might be but Onos reveals that the information has been removed from the Imass' collective minds.

Toc meets Paran in a bar. It seems Tattersail trusted the Claw to smuggle Paran out of Pale. Paran fills Toc in about his assassination then reveals that Tattersail is heading to Darujhistan to prevent Lorn killing Whiskeyjack. Toc confirms that Lorn intends just that. Toc worries that if Whiskeyjack falls, Dujek's entire host will turn against the Empire in retaliation. The pair plot to head to Darujhistan and assist.

Tattersail is trying to follow the Adjunct by travelling through Thyr, her warren, but is finding it hard going. Something is wrong and she isn't sure why. Eventually, she is forced to abandon Thyr and return to the material plane. She left in such a hurry she did not bring her Deck of Dragons. That, coupled with the sudden lovemaking with Ganoes makes her wonder if Oponn forced her hand in leaving so rapidly. She emerges from her warren to find Bellurdan waiting for her. Ok, let's back up. I didn't mention Bellurdan before because his appearance was fleeting and not super necessary, but now it is, so let's examine.
Bellurdan is a Thelomen Toblakai, essentially giant blooded and over 7 feet tall. He and his lover, Nightchill, were among the mages that fought Moon's Spawn in Pale. Nightchill was killed in the battle (by Tayschrenn, remember?). Bellurdan took it hard and sat with her corpse and mourned for days. Tattersail found him and persuaded him to let her cast a preservation spell on Nightchill's corpse which was beginning to rot. He acquiesced.
Ok, we're caught up. Bellurdan tells Tattersail that Tayschrenn sent him here to arrest her. He still carries the sack with Nightchill's body in. Tattersail asks how Tayschrenn has blocked her warren. Bellurdan explains that was not Tayschrenn but the T'lan Imass accompanying the Adjunct. He has a power called "Eldering" that consumes sorcery and that if she opens her warren entirely, she would be destroyed entirely. If Tattersail resists arrest, Bellurdan is instructed to kill her. Although they are friends, Bellurdan points out that Tayschrenn is his superior and orders must be followed. The pair talk a little first. Bellurdan reveals that Tayschrenn has found partial fragments of Gothos' Folly. As Bellurdan has Jaghut blood, Tayschrenn had him examine the writings to try and locate the burial site of a Jaghut Tyrant. A Jaghut Tyrant was a Jaghut whose blood was poisoned by ambition to rule. This particular one enslaved the land around it for three thousand years. The T'lan Imass tried to destroy him but failed. Eventually, the other Jaghut imprisoned the Tyrant. This prison lies to the east of Darujhistan. Tattersail now realises why the T'lan Imass accompanies Lorn. Lorn intends to free the Tyrant. The conversation ends. Bellurdan states his intentions. Tattersail opens her warren as Bellurdan charges at her.

Lorn and Tool witness the conflagration on the horizon. Tool mentions it is within the barrier he erected. They watch it for over an hour. Lorn asks if Tool recognises which warren it is. Tool states that it is many. Tellan, Thyr, Denul, D'riss, Tennes, Thelomen Toblakai and Starvald Demelain. Lorn has never heard of Starvald Demelain. Tool tells her it is an Elder Warren. Lorn thought there were only three Elder Warrens but Tool tells her that there are many, all born of Starvald Demelain. Lorn asks who is capable of such a feat. Tool tells her there was one, once, but he has no worshippers left and so he has no answer. As the fire eventually winks out, Tool says the source has been destroyed but that he felt something new born.

We see Crone, flying over Caladan Brood's camp. She sees D'riss magic, earth magic, coming from the main tent. She enters, meeting Caladan Brood. It seems both of them saw last night's conflagration in the desert. We learn that Brood is only half human and seems to not entirely trust Anomander Rake and that crone is spying on the Tiste Andii for him, as well as keeping Rake in the dark about Brood's activities. Crone tells Brood that she knows who the coinbearer is. It seems Brood wishes to protect the Coinbearer. When Crone leaves, Brood summons Kallor, a tall grey-skinned man. They discuss tactics. When Brood leaves, Kallor muses that Brood would do well to follow Kallor's advice and destroy Rake lest he come to regret it.

Meanwhile. Toc and Paran saw last night's conflagration as well. They have just arrived on the aftermath, a circle of charred earth. They find the remains of Tattersail and Bellurdan. All that remains of the bag containing Nightchill is a burnt smudge... with tracks leading from it. Toc describes the tracks as small, like a child's but only bone as though the soles were gone, rotted or burned away. Paran vows vengeance on Lorn for killing Tattersail through proxy.

We see Crone, two days later. Something is killing great ravens with magic. She meets with a flock of them and discovers they are under attack by something popping in and out of a warren to snipe at them. She is surprised that something could wield a sorcery that a raven cannot absorb and goes to investigate. She sees Hairlock emerge and realises he is a soul shifted. She understands how long this knowledge was forgotten due to how often the user would be driven insane. She tries to attack but Hairlock lashes out and almost penetrates Crone's own magical defences. She realises now the warren of chaos and is shocked and forced to turn tail and flee. She realises that Anomander must be told of this.

Lorn and Tool converse, also two days later. Tools is now convinced the conflagration was Eldering, a lost warren returned. Tool also witnessed the killing of the great ravens with Elder magic. Lorn finds it odd that the supposedly empty Rhivi Plain should see so much activity. Tool names it Convergence. Power draws power. This is going to be a core concept going forward, the idea that great powers ultimately converge and clash. Tool says this was the danger the Jaghut understood, the reason they lived in isolation from one another and let their civilization crumble. He also claims the Forkrul Assail understood this too though they chose another path. He names the Imass, Jaghut and Forkrul Assail as the founding peoples.

We are back in Kruppe's dream once more. The mage warms his hands by the fire, alone. Kruppe ponders the nature of this bleak dreamscape in which he cannot escape until he awakes. He sees some unknown brown furred beasts moving in a herd and wonders aloud if he has travelled to the beginning of things. A voice tells him he is correct and Kruppe sees a man wearing deer hides with antlers attached to his hat. He introduces himself as Pran Chole, the White Fox, wise in the ways of ice. He says the age of ice is passing and mentions the time he has spent warring with the Jaghut. Pran Chole says that his kind give way to Kruppe's kind, offering them freedom from the wars. The Jaghut dwindle, the Forkrul Assail have vanished and the K'chain Che'Malle are no more.
Woah, let's back that up. We've covered a lot of races so far and you might have an inkling of what Pran Chole is but this is our first mention of the K'chain Che'Malle. Well, just as with the Forkrul, we're gonna have to wait a considerable time to get any further info about them. For now, as always, file the name in your long term memory and move on, because the truth about the K'chain Che'Malle is much stranger than you're expecting. Anyways, the implication is that the ice age killed them off. Pran Chole tells Kruppe that his people have overhunted the great herd and it is dying off. His people are the Tlan but they are gathering, to voice the Rites of Imass and to choose bone casters in order to sunder the flesh and birth the T'lan Imass. Ah. Well that answers a lot of questions doesn't it.
Another stranger joins Kruppe's dream. A Rhivi woman, middle aged and heavily pregnant. She speaks to Pran Chole, telling him that the Tellan Warren has birthed a child whose flesh is an abomination and that a shifting must take place. She reveals her stomach, tattooed with a white fox. She mentions that K'rul answered the child's need. Pran Chole says that the child will become Soletaken, a shapeshifter. Kruppe leaves the pair and heads out into his dream wilderness where he finds the decaying yet walking corpse of Nightchill, limbs sewn back onto her body (presumably by Bellurdan?). A soul is trapped inside the corpse and Kruppe guides it back to the fire. It seems the preservation spell on the corpse is not entirely dissimilar to the spells that form the Imass though much weaker. The Rhivi woman identifies Tattersail and the sorceress, the Rhivi and Pran Chole enter a group hug.
K'rul appears. Ahhh, was it K'rul who opened all those warrens? Was this the God Tool was thinking of? Kruppe tells K'rul that he knows Rallick and Murillio are plotting to right an old wrong without telling him but that he intends to hijack their efforts to serve his own purposes and feels guilty about it. Kruppe also knows that the Malazans are in Darujhistan, undercover. K'rul suggests Kruppe has allies coming, a T'lan Imass and one who is a bane to magic. He warns Kruppe not to oppose them.
Meanwhile, the Rhivi woman has absorbed Tattersail's soul, discarded Nightchill's corpse and now gives birth. Kruppe enquires a little about the magic involved but K'rul states it is unknown to him, that this sorcery is of the moon. Tattersail is born, the tattoo of the fox no longer on the Rhivi's stomach. Pran Chole is upset he won't be here twenty years down the line to see her grow up. K'rul informs him that he will, only not twenty years from now, but three hundred thousand, as a T'lan Imass Bone Caster.

We flash back three hours before to Kruppe's meeting with Baruk when the wax coin impression exploded. As Kruppe was leaving the meeting and Baruk's house he hears someone drop something in the street and curse. The curse triggers something in Kruppe. He has visions of House Shadow and realises that the curse was Malazan. Kruppe thanks Oponn for the timely intervention and peers in the direction of the curse to see two roadworkers, speaking Daru though to Kruppe's trained ear, with just a teeny hint of an accent. You putting these pieces together yet?

As Kruppe leaves we see Whiskeyjack observing him. Sorry tells him that the man has some significance and should be watched but can't explain why. We see the various Bridgeburners, working on the roads, digging up cobbles, replacing them with new ones and securing their explosives beneath. Fiddler specifies this area has four Sparkers, two Flamers and one Cusser. I know, I promised we'll learn more about explosives later but now isn't the time. Whiskeyjack wants the sappers to make sure they destroy Baruk's house when the explosions go off. There's one weird scene which means nothing right now, but is interesting in I think book 6. Anyway, Whiskeyjack has a headache. There isn't time for Mallet to figure out the source and fully heal the sergeant right now, so he does a tiny healing just to ease the pain. It seems this has occurred before.

Whew. We're halfway through the first book and so much has happened. There's a lot of lore here and even in this summarized form where I have tried to make the connections as obvious as possible it's still a lot to take in. On a reread, it's manageable but I remember reading this for the first time and fully understanding why many people would fall at the first hurdle and abandon it especially as we've really only scratched the surface so far. There are many races we haven't seen, characters yet to discover and while we have a good grip on the events happening locally, in Pale and Darujhistan, we cannot begin to imagine the scale of things to come. We've only really met four gods, Oponn, Shadowthrone, The Rope and K'rul and there are plenty more out there. Hopefully you'll join me next time for the second part of this deep dive into book one of Malazan Book of the Fallen.

[Charon]

Welcome back. So now we have a simple understanding of some of the Malazan lore and have seen a handful of threads converging on Darujhistan, it's time to see those threads intertwining.

First up is a quick scene with Crokus and his uncle is who writing a book about history. The main takeaway from this is that there were three great peoples. Apparently the Forkrul Assail were the first to "bow out", not through weakness but disinterest. This is an interesting point that I think I overlooked first time round. We're given so little information about the Forkrul Assail that by the time they turn up, it's all slithered away into the miasma. We also get more confirmation that the Jaghut were a race of individuals which was why they died out. We still haven't seen any Jaghut yet, obviously, but if it helps, let's just quickly point out that they're orcs. Well, not exactly. In the same way the Tiste aren't really elves, the Jaghut aren't your DnD orcs. But imagine that visual. Green skin, protruding tusk-like teeth. Though where orcs are arguably intellectually challenged, the Jaghut are the opposite. Intelligent and wise. Anyway, the thing Crokus' uncle points out here is that there are some Jaghut who still survive, just not on Genabackis (the continent Darujhistan sits on). Finally, he tells Crokus that the third race became the T'lan Imass and no one knows what happened to them or why.

Now we see Sorry, following Kruppe. The Rope is having trouble maintaining control it seems. I skipped over a little detail at the start of the book that right before Shadowthrone and Cotillion ganked her, an elderly seer who was near Sorry was killed by a Malazan soldier. It seems that seer somehow transferred her soul into Sorry as well. Cotillion hears a child crying in his head as well as another voice briefly. What we take away from this is that the seer is protecting the actual girl from the horrors Cotillion is committing using her body. He regains control of Sorry and continues following Kruppe until he arrives at a bar and slips inside. Cotillion tries to follow but the bouncer clocked him following Kruppe (possibly Kruppe even alerted him as he entered) and denies him entry. The Rope has a quick look around... and then assassinates him and slips into the bar. Not exactly subtle, the god of assassins. He messes up again as he approaches the bar and orders a rather fancy high end ale, drawing a little attention given the poorer clientele of the bar.

Crokus arrives at the same bar and finds the assassinated doorman. He bursts in and announces it. It doesn't cause a great fuss, it seems this is a shady bar. We hear the whistles of guardsmen outside. Crokus joins Sorry at the bar and orders a drink. Crokus sees something when he looks at Sorry and Sorry realises he's seen it. He nervously tries to pay for his drink, dropping the some coins on the bar. Two clatter to the table, but one... oh yes, one... have you guessed? Yep, one keeps on spinning. Crokus clocks it. Sorry clocks it. She feels a sense of power. The coin reacts. It leaps in the air and lands on the bar. Awkwardly, Crokus retrieves it. As Crokus pockets the Oponn coin Sorry glances down at herself to see what Crokus noticed in the first place. There's still blood dripping from her dagger, obviously. Sorry realises Crokus knows she killed the doorman and decides she will have to kill him. Cotillion is starting to feel more like a sledgehammer than a knife in the dark. Kruppe calls Crokus over and Sorry makes note that the coinbearer and Kruppe are linked.

Kalam and Quick Ben meet up in the streets as a grey robed man lights the city's gas lamps nearby. Remember those? Probably important, right? It seems Kalam has no news from the local assassins as the guild have gone into hiding which is unusual as it seems common knowledge that the Malazans pay the local assassins when they invade to assist them, making it possible the council have tried taking out the assassins to prevent that happening. Could that be the case? Anyway, Quick Ben is up to something and he needs Kalam to watch his back. He says Hairlock has almost outlived his usefulness due to his insanity but intends to use him to lure as many ascendants into the fray as possible, something they are trying to keep secret from Tayschrenn.
Quick Ben gives Kalam a warning. If he doesn't make it back, burn his body down to ash. Kalam takes this seriously and asks how long to wait. Quick Ben says dawn. Whatever he's up to it seems pretty fucking serious. A ring of fire surrounds Quick Ben and he seems to deflate, as though the life has left him, perhaps his soul. Kalam keeps watch over the unconscious wizard.

Murillio arrives at the bar! He meets up with Kruppe and Crokus.
...
Rallick Nom arrives at the bar!
It turns out Coll is also here, in a drunken state, so our Darujhistan rebels are all together. Now something weird happens. The group discuss Moon's Spawn, which is of course, hovering menacingly over Darujhistan. Crokus casually asks who lives in Moon's Spawn to which heavily drunk Coll yells "Five black dragons!"
Yeah we'll get to that in a moment.

Meanwhile, in the warren of chaos! Sorry for all the exclamation marks but this whole section is very exciting to me as we're really getting some payoff for all we've learned. I'll summarize a little what's going on here so we don't get bogged down. Quick Ben is going to travel from one warren, that of chaos, to another by finding a place where they touch. I likened it to the Great Wheel cosmology in DnD before when we discussed how Hairlock was using the back ways but it's more like that all the other warrens abut the warren of chaos.
So we see Quick Ben, there's some magical tension as we build up to the moment but he finds the place and passes through into another warren where he immediately sits down, folds his legs, puts his hands in his lap and addresses Shadowthrone, telling him he's here as a peaceful visitor.
We hear the howl of hounds.

We see Kruppe in Crokus' uncle's house. He's reading a history book. It mentions an event called the Calling Down to earth and how it caused a god to be crippled and chained in place. The god's fists sundered the lands and things were born and things were released.
We see mention of Hood and his warrior, Dessembrae and the latter breaks his bonds to Hood.
Then we see mention of the Tiste Andii arriving, described as "black dragons numbering five" and red winged Silanah who lived with them. Kruppe mulls this over. Moon's Spawn, home to five black dragons and one red? He ponders who spoke through Coll's lips.
Before anything else can happen, Baruk contacts Crokus' uncle telepathically and tells him to send Kruppe to him.
As Kruppe leaves he mutters to himself in the third person as he often does. He decides to stroll slowly to Baruk's to allow him to think about the woman who followed him, who killed the doorman, and that she saw Crokus notice the blood on her weapon and that she saw and recognised Rallick Nom as an assassin the moment he arrived. He even noticed that Oponn's coin turned its face to her, for good or ill. It seems Kruppe may be more observant than we've given him credit for.

Crone is at Baruk's house. Rake has demanded she tell Baruk about what she saw on the Rhivi Plain. She tells him about Hairlock and the warren of chaos. Anomander has noticed forces converging on the hills outside Darujhistan, including Hairlock and is starting to wonder why. Baruk swiftly realises that the Malazans are seeking the prison of the Jaghut Tyrant (I did tell you he had copies of Gothos' Folly). Baruk has a rough idea where it might be but says he knows someone who might have even more knowledge. Baruk isn't keen to show Anomander all his cards with nothing in return. He requests another meeting but Crone fobs him off and leaves.
Briefly we learn that Baruk summoned a demon earlier to act as a spy. I can't remember if this is important so I'll just make you aware it happened.

A hound approaches Quick Ben. It has no pupils and Quick Ben recognises it as Gear's mother, Blind. Then he sees Blind's mate, Baran. A third hound, Shan, sneaks up behind him. The hounds escort the wizard through a weird shadowy realm, meeting a fourth hound, Doan, on the way, eventually arriving at Shadowkeep, an enormous obsidian fortress. Typo here in the digital book as Baran is referred to as Boran. The hounds lead Quick Ben into the fortress where he sees an empty throne, only to realise that the shadow upon the throne is... Shadowthrone, obviously. He was there the whole time, seemingly formed from multiple shadows. Shadowthrone says Shan told him he knows the name of his hounds. Quick Ben admits he was once an acolyte in Shadowthrone's temple. Shadowthrone suggests that admittance was unwise, given his disposition towards those who once served him but do so no longer. Quick Ben reveals he knows the dogma, that as an ex servant he is marked for assassination by the Rope but that he comes to offer Shadowthrone a deal. It seems Quick Ben knows Shadowthrone well, he cannot resist a deal. He asks Quick Ben what the deal is but first QB asks if Gear still lives. Shadowthrone is surprised but admits that Gear still lives. Quick Ben offers him the man who "offended" your hound. Shadowthrone says that man is protected by Oponn. Quick Ben says not that man but the one behind the attempt to steal Gear's soul when he was injured. He refers to Hairlock, of course. Shadowthrone asks about the other side of the deal to which Quick Ben says in exchange he wants his life back, no longer marked for assassination by the Rope. Finally QB says he will choose the time and place to offer up Hairlock otherwise he may escape through the warren of chaos. He says he can prevent this at the right moment.
Shadowthrone mulls this over. He can think of no easy way of killing both Hairlock and Quick Ben together and realises he needs him and admits as much and asks why he shouldn't just kill Quick Ben anyway. Quick Ben admits that he knows Shadowthrone will seek out every loophole to try and betray him and allows for it, provided Shadowthrone gives him his word that if he finds no way to betray Quick Ben, he will carry out the plan regardless.
Shadowthrone is delighted by the thoroughness and laments that Quick Ben would have been a perfect disciple to rise up the ranks of Shadow. He gives QB his word.
Quick Ben tells Shadowthrone that he did indeed rise far as a disciple of shadow. He utters a word of recall, magic pulling him backwards into his own warren as Shadowthrone suddenly realises who he is. He screams, "It is you! Delat! You shape-shifting bastard!"

Wow. Lots to mull over there. Will we find out all this rich history between Quick Ben, aka Delat and Shadowthrone. And yet more multinames, huh? And just what is Quick Ben up to angering a god in the first place? Balls of steel, this guy.

Over to Kruppe who is meeting with Baruk. Kruppe lies about having no luck locating the Malazan infiltrators. He gives Baruk a message, ostensibly from the Eel... spoilers, Kruppe is the Eel. Baruk tells Kruppe to gather his cronies and the coinbearer and leave the city on a mission. We can presume he's sending them to the Jaghut prison.

An hour after leaving, Quick Ben returns to his body and tells Kalam he was successful on both counts. I assume one count is baiting Shadowthrone. Is the other getting the Rope off his back? Kalam drops some information that Ben is a high priest who burnt his vestments.
Sorry arrives. The two are surprised and Ben asks how she found them. Sorry claims Whiskeyjack sent her but they call her out on this as they didn't tell Whiskeyjack where they were. Sorry admits the lie then claims she sensed Quick Ben's power signature. Quick Ben pretends to accept this but secretly knows that he had a shield against detection and could only be detected by a servant of Shadow due to bleedthrough from the warren. He is now certain Sorry serves the Rope.
Sorry tells Kalam she spotted an assassin in a bar and suggests he make contact. She leaves, claiming to be performing an errand for Whiskeyjack.
The two soldiers confer about Sorry. Kalam suggests if he'd attacked her then, he'd be dead. Quick Ben points out that they will kill her when the time is right.

Kalam heads to the bar. Rallick Nom notices him. Rallick slips out and meets with Ocelot who tells him to lure Kalam to a specific place as a trap. They think he's the one killing off the guildmembers. Off Rallick goes.
Meanwhile, Kalam slips upstairs in the bar to where he and Quick Ben have procured a room. Quick Ben casts a bunch of spells, giving Kalam a feather fall and darkvision and himself flight and invisibility. The pair know this meeting is a trap, but want to contact the assassins anyway. They slip out and follow Rallick Nom.
Skipping ahead slightly, Rallick Nom and Ocelot hide in a concealed ambush and await Kalam's arrival.

Up in the sky above all this flies a demon. We do not know for certain who summoned it, only that it was a mage of great power. Given our brief mention of Baruk summoning a demon before we could hazard a guess that the alchemist is responsible. The demon is cocky but then gets surprise attacked. Twelve strangers drop from the sky, one of which is kicking the demon's ass while the others largely ignore it. The demon knows fear and manages to escape as the twelve mysterious figures drop to the rooftops and begin massacring the thieves' guild.

Two of the mysterious attackers land near Kalam and attack him seemingly using magic as well as martial skill. Kalam dispatches one of them but is badly wounded dealing with the second. He loses track of Ben but hears magical combat and realises the wizard might be under attack himself.

Rallick manages to shoot one of the attackers with his crossbow. The body disappears, withdrawn with a recall spell. Rallick and Ocelot realise the tables have turned and the attackers have magic. They wisely scarper.

Back with Sorry, who it seems has marked Kruppe and Crokus with sorcery, allowing her to track them easily. It seems the Rope still thinks he killed Ganoes Paran. Interesting because we know Shadowthrone is aware this isn't true. Mull that over. We also know Sorry garrotted a Claw leader in Pale. I have no idea who this refers to. Maybe we'll get later clarification but this may just be flavour text.
So, Sorry follows Crokus who is headed to the D'Arle estate to return the stolen jewellery. He slips in and puts it back but is confronted by the maiden he spied last time who we learn is Challice D'Arle. She's curious and the two chat. Crokus confesses he intends to mend his ways and formally present himself as a suitor. This amuses Challice but her laughter draws attention and Crokus has to peg it. During his exodus, he see Sorry observing him.

Kalam and Quick Ben are also trying to cheese it. Ben is concerned about Kalam's deep wound. He produces a vial that he throws to the ground, releasing a demon called Pearl that expected to see its master, Tayschrenn. Ben suggests the demon belongs not to Tayschrenn personally, but to the Malazan Empire. The demon seems surprised to see the attackers are Tiste Andii and are not fleeing his presence. He seems confident of his chances. He asks Ben's name, who responds with "Ben Adaephon Delat". Pearl is surprised at that, because that person is supposed to be dead.
Another Tiste Andii joins his allies, a long thin object strapped to his back. Quick Ben and Pearl are suddenly less confident. Pearl realises this is now his death and suggests Ben be quick in leaving as he will not survive long.

We get a brief scene with Rallick in which we learn a little more about the plan he is hoping to enact with Murillio, that being the payback on Lady Simtal for her disposition of her husband, Lord Coll. Ah yes, if you hadn't yet connected those two dots, there you have it.

Meanwhile, Anomander has killed the demon and is assessing his Tiste Andii. Two are injured and one dead. Rake thinks Tayschrenn released the demon. The Tiste Andii return to Moon's Spawn.

Quick Ben and Kalam arrive back at the Bridgeburner hideout where Mallet heals Kalam's wound. Quick Ben admits to Whiskeyjack that things went bad and he had to release a demon. Whiskeyjack is about to chew him out for leaving a demon loose in the city when Ben tells him the demon is dead. Whiskeyjack is incredulous and asks who they ran into. Ben says he isn't sure but that the demon barely lasted a minute. They discuss the Tiste Andii with Ben noting that the sorcery they used had that flavour. Old, dark and icy cold, the signature of Kurald Galain. Ben also tells Whiskeyjack the plan with Shadowthrone worked.

Back with Sorry who is following Crokus. She's decided that she'll need to kill him, eventually, but not before figuring out what Oponn wants Crokus for. Sorry has figured out that Crokus has the hots for Challice and wonders if Oponn is trying to subtly influence the city's politics. She observes Rallick and Murillio talking and learns that Kruppe's group is planning on leaving the city. She decides to follow to figure out who they serve and what their mission is, then she'll kill Crokus. Mentally she notes that she'll have to deal with Ben and Kalam later.

Alchemist Baruk has had a headache, caused by the demon dying. It seems he is somewhat sensitive to such magics. Worse, he gets a glimpse of a world of absolute darkness and hears wooden wheels creaking and clanking chains and groans of thousands of imprisoned souls.
Rake arrives. The two have a heated discussion about Rake's hunting of the Assassin's Guild. Baruk isn't happy but Anomander insists it was necessary to prevent Empress Laseen hiring the Guild to take down Baruk. We learn that the Guild Leader, Vorcan, is a mage. Baruk insists that the presence of the guild is a necessary evil and removing it threatens the stability of Darujhistan, at a time of war, no less. Rake comments that Baruk is more than a mere alchemist. Baruk simply says that some paths to ascendancy are more subtle than others.
Baruk asks Anomander about the demon. Rake admits he killed it with Dragnipur, imprisoning its soul within.

In Kruppe's dream, Kruppe has heard the same sounds as Alchemist Baruk. He ponders its source, aloud. K'rul appears and informs Kruppe that Tattersail is growing quickly, as is the nature of Soletaken. He tells Kruppe the sounds he hears come from Dragnipur. Kruppe mentally visualises the Deck of Dragons, seeing the Knight of Dark represented as a half man, half dragon. Finally, K'rul tells Kruppe that the mission Baruk is sending him on will involve Elder Magic. Cryptically, he says that it is Tellan (the Imass warren) but what it touches, is Omtose Phellack, the Jaghut warren. Omtose Phellack is a big deal and we'll run across it many times in the upcoming events.

Adjunct Lorn and Tool progress towards the Jaghut Prison. She wonders why this prison has never been found before. Tool suggests it is hidden within Omtose Phellack, pointing out that while Tellan and Omtose Phellack are both Elder warrens by human standards, Tellan is far older than Omtose Phellack, Elder in its own right and that the two touch, hence his presence, able to enter Omtose Phellack via Tellan. Lorn wants to know how Onos T'oolan can control the Jaghut Tyrant but he says that isn't the Empress' plan. It seems Laseen's gambit is that Anomander Rake will have no choice but to intervene. Lorn has no idea who Rake is or what Dragnipur is capable of. Tool mentions that the sword was made in the age before Light. We also get a smidge of Tiste lore here when Tool says the Andii regret coming to this world. It seems that they lived within Kurald Galain before that but their Goddess, Mother Dark, was lonely and created Light. There's a spinoff that covers these early days of the Tiste Andii, or would be if the third book ever got finished. I've been waiting some time for it, like six years or more. Apparently sales were lukewarm but I loved it.
Anyway, the point Tool wants to make is that though the Tiste Andii mages still access Kurald Galain for spellcasting, they haven't lived there as a race for a very long time and he says they are no longer of Kurald Galain but that some of them have embraced another warren, the First Warren, Starvald Demelain.
Lorn asks who this warren belonged to before that.
Can you guess yet?
Starvald Demelain was the home of Dragons.

We get a glimpse of the Kruppe Troop, sans Rallick, who are heading out of Darujhistan to find this prison.

Over to Sorry who is also leaving Darujhistan, following Crokus remotely. She thinks the Kruppe Troop are all spies. Murillio spies on the nobles, Rallick spies on the Assassin's Guild, etc. She's worried that they're heading into danger. Not worried for them of course, just for herself. She opens the Warren of Shadow and slips inside.

More convergence happening as Paran and Toc come closer to the Jaghut prison. They've found a trail of dead birds, killed by Hairlock. There's an interesting fact here where Toc muses to himself that the only way to destroy an Imass is to chop it to pieces. How does he know that? Even weirder, Toc has some sort of precognitive moment where he sees an image of the pair being ganked by Hairlock who attacks directly from his warren. He warns Paran and the two prepare to be ambushed.

Quick Ben checks in on Hairlock remotely and is surprised and confused to find him on the Rhivi Plain.

Hairlock ganks Paran. Toc tries unsuccessfully to shoot him with his bow and Hairlock hurls Toc into the open warren and then closes it. Hairlock taunts Paran this his sword cannot hurt him. Suddenly, we hear hounds.

Quick Ben watches all this remotely. He calls out to Sorry, telling her he knows she's the Rope. Cotillion answers telepathically. Ben tells the Rope to tell Shadowthrone where Hairlock is.
Now we know how the hounds got there.

Back with Lorn and Tool. The Kruppe Troop arrive. Lorn draws her sword, Coll charges on his horse. Lorn cuts him down, leaving him with a heavily bleeding gash on his leg. Her sword steams as it absorbs Kruppe's attempted magic. Murillio engages Lorn and manages to pierce her shoulder with his rapier and she catches him across the head with the flat of her blade. Crokus surrenders and Lorn accepts, warning them to patch up Coll and return to Darujhistan.

The Rope mentally contacts Shadowthrone, who tells him that Ben Adaephon Delat (typod in the digital book) used to be a high priest of shadow. Now Cotillion is pissed off too. He is still travelling by warren, in Sorry's body, but is struggling due to the nearing presence of the Imass. Sorry emerges from the warren to find herself half a mile behind the Kruppe Troop. She loses sight of them temporarily as they crest a hill but she hears the sounds of combat and senses the Otataral. For some reason, the Rope is angry about Otataral. Hmm, could this be how he and Shadowthrone were killed in the first place? Sorry crests the hill and recognises Lorn. She lurks until Lorn and Tool leave and then stalks towards Crokus with the intent of garrotting him.

With the hounds approaching Hairlock opens his warren again and bids Paran adieu.

Quick Ben cuts the strings that power Hairlock's magical doll body.

Hairlock collapses to the floor immobile, inches from his warren. As the hounds close in, Hairlock begs Paran to throw him through the portal but Paran is, quite rightly, a bit annoyed at Hairlock and refuses. The hounds tear Hairlock apart. He survived quite a while for a guy who was killed at the start of the book, huh? Well we ain't done. Gear is here and he is still mad at Paran. Before the hounds can attack, Paran feels an enormous pressure as if he's being pressed into the earth. Even the grass is flattened around him. When it eases, Anomander Rake stands nearby. The seven hounds fan out, wary of the Tiste Andii. Rake warns the hounds to leave and tell Shadowthrone that he won't tolerate interference between Rake and the Malazans. There's a standoff during which Gear somehow tells Rake he wants to kill Paran. Paran confesses what he did. As the situation grows tense, the hounds attack. Paran feels darkness explode around him, hears chains and wooden, creaking wheels. When he can see again, two hounds are dead and Rake is holding Dragnipur, slick with blood. Paran realises he is bleeding from the mouth and ears. He asks Rake who he is. Rake doesn't answer. Shadowthrone appears.
Rake tells Shadowthrone he gave the hounds fair warning and tells him to stay out of it. Shadowthrone says only the Rope is involved in the events in Darujhistan. Rake tells him to recall the Rope. Shadowthrone says he will but that the Rope will not be pleased and he won't be responsible for anything the Rope might do. Rake threatens that if pushed, he will assault the shadow realm. Shadowthrone forcibly recalls the Rope. As he leaves he hints that Paran may be involved with Oponn.
Rake queries Paran over Oponn who admits his resurrection. He touches Paran (with consent) and says that he is not possessed but that Oponn was unkind and if Caladan Brood was present he could heal that. Everything Rake says is mysterious. He tells Paran to hold onto his sword until his luck turns and then to break it or give it to an enemy. Remember this, because if memory serves, we might come back around to this eight or nine books down the line.

Rake leaves and Paran slumps, finally realising that Toc is gone for good. He investigates the corpse of one of the hounds. He foolishly touches the wound and the blood travels up his arm. He falls back, into darkness, to the sound of chains.

Paran finds himself walking alongside multiple people wearing shackles, pulling an immense "impossibly huge" wagon. The terrain is bleak, featureless wasteland shrouded in darkness. Being the only one unchained, he begins exploring. He finds the hounds, chained and pulling at the wagon as if trying to free themselves. He meets a man who refuses to tell him his name. The man is annoyed at the dogs, lest they tip the wagon, which would make it harder to pull. Paran asks where they are and the man says the warren within the sword. Hmm, so this is how Dragnipur works. When killed with it, you are sucked into its own warren. Paran investigates the chains and finds that they lead under the wagon. Exploring along the dark underbelly of the wagon he finds it growing colder and colder until it's almost unbearable, then the chains disappear into a black void.
Paran draws Chance (his sword) and calls upon Oponn. Bizarrely, it works. The male twin appears and practically shits himself when he realises where he is, referring to Dragnipur as a God-slaying sword. In a panic he tries to escape but Paran manages to hold onto him. Paran calls the hounds over, adding to Oponn's panic. He begs for freedom. Paran sets the price, break the hounds chains. Oponn says he literally can't. Paran threatens him further. Oponn offers a potential workaround that may or may not work. The void the chains disappear into is Kurald Galain. He suggests the hounds go through, having nothing to lose if the situation is still bad. Paran uses Oponn as bait, letting the hounds lunge at the god before releasing him. Like a matador with his red cloth, the hounds pounce for Oponn, only to leap through the void and into Kurald Galain. Paran finds himself back in the real world. The hounds' corpses are missing.

The Kruppe Troop are licking their wounds. Sorry appears... or does she? She seems confused, scared... She can't remember her name. She can't remember where she is? Where's her father? Where's the seer? Where's the little fishing village? Coll finds this weird and suggests Crokus take her back to Darujhistan to his uncle. Crokus is less than enthusiastic. After all, he knows she killed the bouncer. Coll has a hunch that she was possessed. Wow, where did that come from? Does Coll have previous with possessions? Crokus caves and agrees to take her.

Lorn treats her shoulder wound. She's mad at herself for attacking the Kruppe Troop, acting too much like Lorn and not enough like Laseen. Tool tells her it is time and that she should follow him, drawing her sword when they enter. The deadening effect will be minimal but enough to slow the Jaghut's awakening. Intriguing. So Otataral can't entirely negate Omtose Phellack? But it could potentially kill Oponn? Just how powerful are these Jaghut? Tool opens his warren. They step through Tellan and into Omtose Phellack. It seems to be a world of ice. Tool notes that there are Imass wards here as well as Jaghut. He thinks he knows who the prisoner is and is having second thoughts about awakening him but is compelled (by Laseen?). I gotta admit, I yum all this shit up. I love the way all this lore and ancient evils get introduced.
Anyway, Lorn asks how much time this will take. Tool points out that time does not exist within this prison. He makes a curious statement, that this is a time and place before "the faltering of the Jaghut ice". Interesting. Lorn asks how much time will have passed when they return. Tool does not know.

Meanwhile, Crokus and... hmmm, not Sorry. We never did learn her name. She says as much to Crokus, suggesting he choose one for her. He spitballs, offering but immediately withdrawing Challice as an option. Then he muses over the mistress of thieves, Aspalar but says that's a poor choice as she's a Goddess. Too late. Sorry, not Sorry loves the name and she is now Apsalar. Great, as if we don't already have three names for this girl and don't know her actual name, now we have two characters called Apsalar. And yes, we will actually meet the other Apsalar. That's not gonna get weird.

Back with Kruppe and co, Kruppe and Murillio have figured out why Lorn is here. Kruppe also lets it slip that he knows what Murillio and Rallick are planning, the reinstatement of Coll to his noble position. Murillio is gobsmacked. Kruppe now realises that Crokus may actually be in danger from Apsalar and the Kruppe Troop give chase.

Paran is surrounded by a duststorm that turns out to be bhederin, bison-like animals. He is attacked by Rhivi, using the animals as cover. Rhivi nomads, if you forgot, are enemies of the empire, allied with Caladan Brood's forces. They beat Paran up a bit, subduing him but ultimately part to reveal a five year old girl. The warriors seem in awe of her. They converse in Rhivi. It's mysterious (not really, I assume you're following) but the girl claims that though she and Paran have never met, they know each other. She tells him not to worry, Tattersail is not dead and Paran will meet her again some day. Before Paran can react, the herd moves again and the Rhivi flee.
It takes an hour for the bhederin herd to fully pass, during which Paran can only speculate about Tattersail and those tiny footprints that led away from the sack containing Nightchill's corpse.
When he finally heads off, he bumps into Coll who being the injured one, didn't join the rest of the Kruppe Troop chasing after Crokus and Apsalar. Paran tells Coll he's a deserter from the Malazan Army. Coll confesses he used to be a noble and that he bailed on an arranged marriage to marry a whore who basically slept around until she had enough influence to with enough powerful men to have him stripped of his title, leaving her with all his cash. Well that wraps up the Coll and Lady Simtal lore.

Rallick heads back to the bar where he meets an agent of the Eel. Is this Circle Breaker? We don't know yet. Anyway, the spy warns Rallick that Lady Simtal has used Turban Orr as a proxy to take out a contract with the Assassin's Guild. It seems that they are content to wait for Coll to return to Darujhistan before they go ahead and assassinate him. Finally, he tells Rallick that the chosen assassin is Ocelot.

[Charon]

Rake and Baruk converse. The gist of the conversation is this. Rake let Tool enter the prison, Baruk is miffed because he doesn't understand why. He thinks Rake intends to betray him but Rake espouses his honesty, pointing out that if he were to turn traitor, his people would depose him, specifically naming Caladan Brood, his four assassin mages and Silanah. Who's that? Oooh. We'll have to wait for more on that. He reminds Baruk that the Tiste Andii are dying, lost deep within ennui, unable to find any cause to give even the mildest shit about, their spirit dies while their bodies live on. He quotes the Tiste Andii point of view as being "one of disinterest, stoicism and quiet, empty despair". Baruk asks whether the Tiste Andii approve of Rake's decision to ally with the enemies of the Malazan Empire. Rake points out they don't care, they simply follow him. Why? Why not? Truly it is a sad state of affairs for the Tiste Andii.
Rake points out that when the Jaghut is released and fights Rake, it will be left weak enough for Baruk and his cabal of mages to destroy it but that this is Laseen's plan as when that is done, Rake and Baruk will also be weakened and ripe for the plucking by the Malazans.
This still doesn't explain why Rake is letting Lorn and the Imass release the Jaghut.
Anyway, Rake wants to learn more about the Jaghut but Baruk says his expert is indisposed. He leads Rake to a room where we see Crokus' uncle, Mammot, asleep. Rake recognises him as a historian but Baruk tells him he is also a priest of D'rek. Another god for our collection, we haven't met D'rek yet but we'll see her become more prominent later. Rake names D'rek the Worm of Autumn, file that away for our multinames. We learn that Mammot has access to the D'riss warren, earth magic, a warren that Baruk claims to have never explored. Apparently, when Baruk asked Mammot about the Jaghut he went to sleep. Rake understands what happened. Mammot opened his warren to travel to the prison and check out the Jaghut, only he would have found himself at the convergence of Omtose Phellack, Tellan and Lorn's otataral sword. He is functionally trapped there until Lorn and Tool leave Omtose Phellack. The pair worry that the Jaghut might try to possess Mammot to make use of his D'riss warren.

Crokus and Sorry, sorry, Apsalar, arrive at Mammot's house to find that he ain't there. A friend of Crokus arrives and warns him that he's wanted because of the guard he killed at the D'Arle estate. Wait, Crokus didn't kill anyone at the D'Arle esta... oh no. Yeah, Crokus realises it too. That was Sorry, but now it's been blamed on him. And who blamed him? Well Crokus makes the obvious logical leap that it must have been Challice. Do we believe that?

It's... *drumroll* new character time! Another Tiste Andii, Serrat, is outside, having also stalked Crokus. She's biding her time but intends to take him out.

Kruppe and Murillio arrive back in town and hit the pub. Murillio leaves and runs into Circle Breaker who passes him a message but, in true dramatic fashion, we don't get to see it yet.

Rallick is out on the rooftops, ready to take out Ocelot. He knows the assassin has magic so he has dug out an old possession, a bag of otataral powder. He was warned not to let it touch his skin but desperate times call for desperate measures and he rubs that shit in everywhere. He figures Ocelot would try to snipe Coll from the belfry as he enters town. Yes that belfry. God, I love how this all comes back around.

Quick scene with the Bridgeburners, main takeaway is Quick Ben can't locate Sorry. He says the Rope couldn't hide from him, not while possessing Sorry.

Over to Coll and Paran. Coll's wound is real bad, guys. He's basically bleeding out and Paran is desperately trying to get him to Darujhistan. Right before Coll passes out he tells him to take him to the bar. Paran arrives at the city gates and one of the guards recognizes Coll and offers to help. Something draws Paran's attention to the distant belfry... Probably Oponn, right?

Rallick climbs the belfry and finds it vacant. Or is it? Ocelot is a mage after all. He creeps forward stealthily and sure enough, once he's in range, Ocelot's invisibility spell is broken. He hears Rallick and turns and fires his crossbow, but the bolt is magic and is destroyed. They pull daggers and get busy shanking each other. Rallick is the winner but it seems to be a Pyrrhic victory as Rallick is bleeding out.

Paran didn't actually see any of this of course.

Serrat wakes up, her daggers that she was clutching have been placed neatly at her side. Weird. She's got a headache where she got beaned and she's impressed at the skill they must have employed to take out a Tiste Andii assassin mage undetected, also confused that she's alive. She exits through her warren. Unbeknown to her, Crokus and Apsalar have been moved to the bar while she was unconscious. Don't waste too much time thinking about who did this. If memory serves it isn't anyone we've met yet and is only partially explained, being covered in more detail in the other six book series. You can kinda figure out who might be behind it overall if you think about who Serrat serves and who might be subtly working against that guy.

Paran drops Coll off at the bar and has a beer. He's thinking back about what Rake told him about breaking Chance when his luck turned. He feels like he's had a run of good luck, finding Tattersail somewhat alive and making a friend in Coll (if he survives). He wedges the sword in the table with the intent of breaking it.
Reckon this is Oponn intervening?
Kalam arrives at the bar and recognises Paran, having seen him when he was resurrected. Paran was unconscious at the time and hasn't had the pleasure but when Kalam explains who he is, Paran orders him to fetch Mallet (the healer). Paran does still outrank him after all.

Whiskeyjack arrives with Mallet who begins healing Coll. Paran warns Whiskeyjack that Lorn wants him dead and that Tattersail is dead and warns the sergeant that Lorn has an Imass.
Whiskeyjack's response is to open a satchel that contains a human forearm, or the bones at least. The elbow end is wrapped in copper wire and the hand has a knife copper wired to it. Apparently it's a rare artefact looted from a K'Chain Che'Malle tomb. He sticks it in the table point down and it opens two way communication with Dujek Onearm.
They exchange information, including the fact that Dujek is actually readying himself to turn his back on the Empire and take on the Pannion Seer. Yeah, we still don't know what the hell that is yet, but he is preparing his armies for a holy war. It seems Whiskeyjack and Dujek have been plotting this whole time.

In the Jaghut's prison, Tool and Lorn are seeking its Finnest, a small object that supposedly contains the Jaghut's powers. Tool describes it as a self-contained Omtose Phellack warren. Ok, what, so there can be more than one warren of each type now? Well, this is a tricky one. Finnests are weird and don't get explained well but they're kinda like a magical battery only they have some weird abilities in their own right. Anyways, the plan is to steal it so that when the Jaghut awakes he hunts it down, allowing Lorn to lead the Jaghut wherever she wants. Among the many trinkets stored here, Lorn finds an acorn and realises its the Finnest.

Crokus and Apsalar try to slip out of their hiding place. Serrat however, has already located them once again. She lays in ambush, magically invisible. As she charges Crokus she hits an invisible hand that stops her and shoves her off the rooftops. Luckily she has a featherfall active too and makes it to the ground bruised and dazed. Crokus and Apsalar are oblivious and bug out.

Back with Murillio we learn about more about Rallick's plan. It seems Rallick is supposed to challenge Turban Orr to a duel and the councilman is quite the duellist. Murillio has also reached the conclusion that Kruppe is the Eel.
Rallick arrives, in a sorry state after being shanked by Ocelot. Murillio starts to tend to him only to find that he has no wounds. Rallick is surprised and decides to wash the otataral powder off of him but it turns out, he has no powder on him. Uh-oh.

Lorn and Tool say their goodbyes and split. We discover that Lorn's shoulder wound from Murillio has healed entirely, caused by her otataral exposure. Really hammering that point home. There's two days til the Jaghut is fully awake.

Crokus leads Apsalar to his hiding spot... it's the bloody belfry in K'rul's temple again. They find Ocelot's body. Apsalar looks up at the moon but Crokus notices Moon's Spawn instead. He sees five massive winged shapes cross its surface. Crokus looks back at Apsalar. Oh dear. Crokus is falling for Apsalar.

Murillio has figured out that Rallick was healed by the otataral. He's wondering if Rallick can still duel Councilman Orr, cos if not, Murillio will have to and he ain't sure if he's good enough. He muses as he walks through Darujhistan. It's two hours before dawn and new year's celebrations begin at sunrise. In Majesty Hall in Darujhistan there's a device with stone wheels that turn that name each year as it comes. Apparently it was gifted to Darujhistan a thousand years ago by a man called Icarium. Mammot believed Icarium was Jaghut blooded. Icarium supposedly travelled with a companion, a Trell.
Ok side note time. Trell are also orc-like dudes but are not directly related to the Jaghut. Instead they are descended from the Thelomen Tartheno Toblakai. If that sounds familiar it's because Bellurdan was one. It's unnecessarily complicated but the lineage is a little like this. First there were the Thel Akai who are essentially giants. Their descendents are the Thelomen Tartheno Toblakai of which there were various offshoots all under this one umbrella term. The offshoots are the Fenn, the Trell, the Arakyan, the Barghast, the Tartheno, the Thelomen, the Teblor and the Thoul-Alai. Why though? Worse, some of these names are used interchangeably. Bellurdan has been described as a Fenn and a Thel Akai as well as a Thelomen Tartheno Toblakai. See, it's shenanigans like this that put people off.
Ok, now we know even less about those guys than we thought we did, the point is Icarium built this incredibly complex astrological prediction machine and was in the presence of a Trell when he gave it to Darujhistan. Remember that detail.
Murillio bumps into Kruppe who produces exquisite masks for Lady Simtal's party. One for Rallick, one for Murillio and one for Kruppe. Murillio is not impressed but Kruppe tells him he has his own invite, waving at Murillio who tries to snatch it, but Kruppe is too quick. Before Kruppe can leave, Murillio tells him he knows he's the Eel. Kruppe tries to play it off but Murillio persists. Eventually Kruppe casts modify memory on Murillio. Murillio takes the masks and walks off.

Rake is meeting with Baruk and makes it clear he'll be attending Lady Simtal's party in disguise, ostensibly because he senses yet more convergence but also because he suspects the Malazans may choose to try and wipe out all the city's leaders at once given that they'll all be at such a party. They discuss the new year and as Baruk mentions the name of the new year, the Year of the Moon's Tears, Rake reacts. Baruk tells him to pay it no mind as the names were designed over a thousand years ago. Rake recognises the style as Icarium's. Baruk is gobsmacked and Rake tells him he met Icarium eight hundred years ago, accompanied by a Trell named Mappo and Osric aka Osserc. More names to file away.
Mammot wakes up, having found it easier than expected to escape his warren, probably because the Finnest was removed, right? He tells the pair that they have two days til the Jaghut is fully awake. A little chit-chat between Baruk and Mammot reveal that they are both aware that Crokus is the Coin-bearer. Rake makes his excuses and leaves suddenly. How suspicious. It's probably to call off Serrat?

Lorn arrives at Darujhistan as the festival is in full flow. She makes her way through the crowded streets.
Unbeknown to her, one of the guards on the gate that saw her enter was Circle Breaker. The Eel had given him Lorn's description and told him him to watch out for her. His fellow guard is complaining that he has a double shift and needs to go to Lady Simtal's fete after this. Circle Breaker offers to let the guard go enjoy the celebration while he covers the shift, ostensibly for a future favour.

Lorn arrives in a bar where she finds three Bridgeburners playing cards. It's Hedge, Fiddler and Mallet. Lorn inquires about Whiskeyjack's whereabouts as she observes the card game. Fiddler seems to be making the rules up as they go. Lorn realises the cards they are using are a deck of dragons. Before she can protest, Fiddler deals her a card. Throne, inverted. Easy to overlook on the first read, but the foreshadowing here is a treat on the second read.
Whiskeyjack makes an appearance and gives Lorn a status report, mentioning that Sorry is missing presumed dead. Lorn isn't convinced. She warns him Sorry is a spy who likely knows Lorn has come seeking her. She takes Whiskeyjack off for a word in private. He fills her in on the skirmish with the Tiste Andii and their efforts to wipe out the Assassin's Guild to prevent the Malazans making contact. He also fills her in on the plan to have the Bridgeburners attend Lady Simtal's fete as hired guards. More and more people are heading to this celebration. It seems we have another convergence site.

Crokus and Apsalar are waiting in the belfry for night to fall. Crokus intends to attend Lady Simtal's fete so he can talk with Challice again.
Way off in the shadows, Serrat watches them. She's magically protected herself this time and is ready to attack. Before she can move, she finds a sword at her neck. Someone gruffly delivers a warning to her and Rake to leave the Coinbearer alone.

We learn a little about Raest, the Jaghut Tyrant and how he was exiled from Jaghut society for his power hungry ways. He enslaved a bunch of Imass but ultimately the Jaghut banded together to bring him down. Raest leaves his tomb, determined to reclaim his Finnest and with it, his full power.

Up in the sky, Crone watches as the five dragons beeline towards Raest, four black, one red, which Crone recognises as Silanah.

Raest extends his magical senses and discovers Burn sleeping deep within the earth. Maliciously he punches the ground, causing a fissure through to the bedrock that causes mountains to rise from the ground and magma to spray into the air. Volcanoes erupt as Burn bleeds.
The dragons arrive. Raest recognises Silanah Red-wings, a true Eleint, and notices the smaller black dragons are merely Soletaken. Raest opens his warren, drawing so much power it practically flays the skin from his body. The dragons attack with magic. The magic of the three warrens collide into a maelstrom with Raest at the centre. Between the assault from the dragons and the surging power of Omtose Phellack, Raest's ancient body is being torn apart but he doesn't seem too concerned.

Lorn has planted Raest's Finnest in someone's garden. Her next task is to kill the Coin Bearer and seize his coin.

From their vantage point atop K'rul's belfry Crokus and Apsalar can faintly see lightning. They don't know it, but the flashes off in the distance are the fight between Raest and the dragons. Crokus heads off to the fete.

Whiskeyjack's men arrive at the fete and are positioned at the edge of the gardens which are off limits to the partygoers. Quick Ben is noticeably wincing with each flash of distant lightning that occurs. It's interesting to note here that Quick Ben seems much more affected by this than Mallett and before long, we'll understand why. Either way, the pair can detect the fight between Raest and the dragons due to the clashing of sorceries. They suspect Raest is winning and is drawing closer.

Kalam and Paran are heading to the estate where they expect Lorn will show. Kalam also threatens the innkeeper as they leave, telling him to get a message to the head of the Assassin's Guild that they'll be at the fete with the biggest offer of a lifetime.

Baruk and Rake make their way to the fete by carriage. Baruk is also suffering from the distant sorcerous battle.
As they arrive, Turban Orr and Lady Simtal observe Rake leaving the carriage. Rake's mask is a black dragon and Lady Simtal observes the fact he's seven feet tall and has a greatsword strapped to his back. It seems it might not be much of a disguise for those in the know. The two pairs meet, with Baruk introducing Rake by name as he was asked to. It seems Rake has no intention of hiding at this party. It seems Turban Orr is oblivious to the significance and has no idea who Rake is.

Off to one side, Murillio and Rallick observe the meeting and see Kruppe heading straight towards it.
Kruppe arrives and Baruk introduces him as the Eel. It seems he also managed to deduce Kruppe's identity.

Turban Orr wanders off and while he is musing on the political situation he sees Circle Breaker and recognises him. He has a sudden revelation as he realises he's the spy. He heads forward, intending to duel the man but bumps into someone else who takes offence. An argument breaks out and we realise this is Rallick Nom making his play. Rallick makes a big show of insulting the councilman, riling him up until he demands a duel. Orr announces his intentions to the crowd. It is customary for each man to have a second. Orr choose Estraysian D'Arle (Challice's father) as his, a notable enemy in the council, still playing politics without realising his life is on the line. Rake volunteers to be Rallick's second.

Meanwhile, Murillio has seduced the Lady Simtal and has lured her off to the bedroom.

Mammot arrives near Baruk, looking for Crokus. The bridgeburners recognise Rake as they observe the duel. Quick Ben gives us some very interesting info here, pointing out to Whiskeyjack that you can tell who the mages are as they are the ones affected by the distant Jaghut's sorceries. He claims that if they opened their warrens they'd feel fine, but to do so would be to lure the Jaghut like a beacon. He also claims the Jaghut could "take the weaker ones, even at this distance".

Crokus is looking for Challice and now notices the duel. He chats to one of the guards, not knowing as we do that this is Circle Breaker. Kruppe appears, deftly removing Crokus from the conversation and passing Circle Breaker a note. The spy is still watching nervously, hoping Turban Orr will be cut down as he knew he had been spotted. He reads the note surreptitiously which is from The Eel, a very flowery message telling him that he can retire, an estate and title has been purchased for him in Dhavran. It has an escape plan for him.
Turban Orr is playing up to the crowd. He has a sword and notices Rallick does not. When he brings it up, Rallick claims he is ready. Estraysian D'Arle comments that if Rallick wins there will be no repercussions from his house.
The duel begins proper, Turban Orr lunges and Rallick, unsurprisingly, owns him. He draws two daggers and stabs him in the neck.

Well, we're nearing the end of the book, but that's no reason we can't have some more characters! Enter Derudan, a witch and member of Baruk's secret cabal of mages. She is introduced to Rake before spiriting Baruk away to talk in private.

Simtal and Murillio have finished their business and looking out of the window at the assembled partygoers Simtal is confused. Murillio confronts her and Rallick arrives. They have bought off Lady Simtal's guards so she will have no escape. With Turban Orr dead, she has no protection and the contract on Coll is void. Murillio leaves her a dagger and the pair leave. As they leave Lady Simtal to her fate, Murillio prays to Mowri, the goddess of beggars and the poor. Interesting choice. Meanwhile, Circle Breaker departs.

Back with Raest, he has driven two of the dragons away. He thinks he has a chance at taking down Silanah but his bones are practically destroyed and he moves only due to his warren. When he gets his Finnest, he can heal. Raest is momentarily distracted as he crests a hill and sees Darujhistan. He offers Silanah the chance to flee as he turns his attention toward the city but as he moves forward, it seems that both the Silanah he is taunting and the city itself is an illusion. Raest finds a mortal standing near him and it becomes readily apparent that it's Kruppe. They converse only briefly before Raest tires of Kruppe's confidence and vaporises him. Kruppe suggests that was rude. See, in Kruppe's dream, Kruppe's rules. The distraction was really all that was needed as Onos T'oolan, summoned to Kruppe's dream by Pran Chole, attacks the Jaghut. K'rul also appears and warns Raest that they intend to save him from a fate worse than death, because Rake will slay him with Dragnipur if he reaches the city. K'rul reveals another of his names, the Maker of Paths and this revelation stuns Raest. The Jaghut claims that K'rul returned to the Realms of Chaos, back to the place of his birth. The implication is that this was a one way trip. K'rul offers Raest a choice, die to Onos T'oolan or pass through the Gates of Chaos with him. Raest chooses neither, his body crumbling to ash. K'rul realises Raest found another body he could inhabit.

Kalam and Paran arrive at the fete, sneaking in via the garden. Something is off here and Kalam isn't quite sure what. He sees a suspicious woman and tries to sneak attack her but she counters. Before a true fight can break out, the guys realise the woman is Sorry. There's some hostility from Paran, this is the woman who killed him after all, but it soon becomes apparent that she's not Sorry. Or that she is sorry. Argh! Or that she's Apsalar, let's say. Before they can get too deep into things, they find the thing that was triggering Kalam's spidey sense. A strange block of wood growing in the garden. Literally growing, even as they observe it. Paran goes to fetch the Bridgeburners and returns with Mallet.

Rallick bumps into Vorcan. It's been a while so a reminder that she is the assassin mage who is head of the Assassin's Guild in Darujhistan.
Meanwhile Crokus finally bumps into Challice. It turns out she didn't betray him, her family knew Sorry killed the guard, not Crokus, leaving the thief more confused than ever about who set the guard looking for him in the first place. I'm still unsure. Maybe Kruppe did it in order to force the lad into hiding or maybe it was simply a ruse for the same outcome.

Mallet doesn't like the thing growing in the garden and refuses to approach because it's anathema to his Denul Warren. Interesting. Mallet's warren is the warren of healing, which would kinda suggest this thing is somehow related to disease. A few things happen. They notice the lack of the magical battle off the distance, it seems to have stopped. Also Mallett realises that Sorry isn't possessed any more. He also finds the witch hiding inside her. Well this is complicated. Mallett points out that the witch was protecting Sorry like a filter between her and Cotillion but now she's dying. The dilemma here is whether to let the witch die and Sorry to return fully to herself with all the horrible memories returned or heal the witch and let her continue living inside Sorry.
Rallick and Vorcan arrive and Crokus observes from the shadows. Rallick is seemingly immune to the growing whatsit and as he approaches, he seems to retard its growth. He confesses that he rubbed the otataral dust into his skin. Kalam makes Vorcan an offer. One hundred thousand gold jakatas for each member of the mage cabal that she kills. If she kills all nine, Empress Laseen will give her control of the city. Vorcan agrees and orders Rallick to stay in the garden and keep the growing thing in stasis until she returns. As everyone but Rallick leaves, the assassin beckons Crokus over and tells him to go warn Baruk that Vorcan is coming for him. He also warns Crokus that Mammot is a member of the cabal and thus Vorcan will kill him too. Something happens and the growing thing responds, trying to struggle against Rallick with renewed force.

Baruk and Rake are leaving the party when Rake senses Raest's arrival. He tells the alchemist to go home while he evacuates the streets and requests a high vantage point. Baruk points him to... you got it, K'rul's belfry. Rake draws Dragnipur and sure enough, the commoners start fleeing.

The bridgeburners come across Mammot and Derudan right as a wave of energy strikes Mammot. Quick Ben leaps for them, warning Derudan to step away. This wave of energy vaporises everything in its path as it hits Mammot and it's my understanding that this is Raest possessing him. Whiskeyjack is thrown back by the blast, breaking his leg and part of the blast hits Paran's sword. Derudan casts a spell on Mammot and realises he is possessed by the Jaghut. She warns Quick Ben, who has reached the same conclusion. Derudan has nothing left to throw at him and asks Ben to assist.

Paran is now somewhere else, Chance glowing brightly in his hand. Where he is is a matter of debate and it's never made fully clear though there are a couple of theories. What he sees here however is Onos T'oolan fighting the Jaghut's Finnest which is like a wooden Jaghut. In the background, a house is growing. As Tool is hurled through the air and lands at Paran's feet, he warns him that the Azath is not yet ready. Paran needs to defend the house, which will serve as the Finnest's prison. Paran tries to defend but the Finnest almost kills him and he is saved only by the hound blood that flows within him, the same blood he touched when the Hounds were killed by Rake, when he was pulled into Dragnipur. Something about it has altered him and he manages to fight back against the Finnest long enough for the Azath to grow. The house's roots grab the Finnest and pull it under the earth.
Yeah I know. Shit got real wacky. We're gonna learn more about these houses in books 2 and 3 but for now we can circle this with a big red wtf and move on.
Paran blinks back to the material plane. As he does so, Ben is about to face off against Mammot. Quick Ben opens not one warren, but seven. It ain't a great experience for him. It's worse for Mammot, vaporising one of his arms. Mammot tries to fight back, forcing one of Ben's warrens closed. Ben isn't looking good. Mammot forces another warren shut. Quick Ben might be one of the most powerful human mages in existence but he can't stand up to the Jaghut any longer. Luckily for him, he doesn't have to. He sees Hedge, wielding an arbalest and in a panic, shoves Derudan out of the way, collapsing the last of his warrens as he does so.
Mammot explodes.
It turns out that what Hedge fired from his arbalest was one of the munitions from the Moranth. Quick Ben tells Derudan she is lucky she closed her warren as open warrens draw the explosive force from mundane munitions. Bit weird, but ok. Raest and Mammot are effectively obliterated.
In the moment of respite that follows, Quick Ben peers into the crater and notices a man shaped form coalescing. It seems maybe Raest isn't as dead as they thought.
Over in the garden, the Azath's roots burst from the ground and snake towards Raest and pull him underground, screaming.
Quick Ben is surprised that there is an Azath in Darujhistan and Derudan points out they arise where unchained power threatens life. Did this thing start growing here because Lorn planted the Finnest nearby? Anyway, Ben confirms that the Jaghut won't be able to escape the Azath. Derudan leaves, Mallet heals Whiskeyjack and the sappers head off to blow the munitions. Here's the part of this book I always found weird. It only now occurs to Kalam that the bombs they've planted might blow not only the roads but the gas pipes and the massive cavern of underground natural gas they're connected to. You mean that wasn't the plan?! This is one bizarre oversight. Kalam freaks out as he realises that blowing the bombs will eradicate Darujhistan in its entirety. He heads off to try and stop them.

Paran gets attacked by a Hound in the garden. It begins chewing on him but ultimately stops, confused. Cotillion arrives, names the Hound as Rood and apologises to Paran. He says Rood sensed the blood of hounds within Paran. There's some back and forth between Cotillion and Paran with the end result being that The Rope heals Paran and Paran gives him Chance. Freed of Oponn's bond, Paran is returned to the material plane by Cotillion. Paran departs to find Lorn.

Crokus flees towards Baruk's estate unknowingly heading towards Lorn who is waiting for him. She is aware that Raest is dead, She follows Crokus. Lorn pulls out a flask she got from Tayschrenn and shatters it, releasing a Galayn demon lord, then resumes pursuing the Coin Bearer.

Baruk felt Mammot's death. Derudan arrives. Her warren is Tennes, the path of the land. She tells Baruk that the Azath took the Jaghut and that Quick Ben has access to seven warrens. Baruk finds that hard to believe, seven seems impossible. Then they both sense the demon being released by Lorn. Then they feel two of their cabal members suddenly die. Grimly, they realise that Vorcan must be coming for them.

Atop K'rul's belfry, Rake warns Silanah to return to Moon's Spawn and leave him to face the demon lord alone. K'rul manifests beside Rake. There's a poignant scene between the two, a shared lassitude. Rake agrees not to damage K'rul's temple. In the streets below, the demon lord begins to shift shape. It is a Soletaken, but then so is Rake. He changes into a massive black dragon, bigger than Silanah as the demon turns into a brown dragon.

Lorn finally decides Crokus is alone enough and charges to gank him. Lorn lunges but Crokus is defended by a man wielding two scimitars. The man and Lorn change blows and it quickly becomes apparent that Lorn is the weaker combatant. As Crokus watches on, another man chuckles and comments on how good the swordsman is. This man tells Crokus he'll escort him safely to his destination. The man says that a mage named Cowl watches from the rooftops, having already dealt with Serrat previously. He also names the swordsman as Corporal Blues. Finally he names himself as Fingers of the Crimson Guard and tells Crokus that he is being protected by Prince K'azz and Caladan Brood. These characters are ancillary to our story here and the escapades of the Crimson Guard are covered in the other series. Anyway, Fingers finally tells Crokus that the coin he carries belongs to Oponn.
Lorn flees the fight, only to run afoul of two of the Eel's agents who finish her off.
Paran finds her, bleeding out on the cobbles. He takes her sword, yes, that sword. Oponn appears, both of them and accuse Paran of giving Chance over to Cotillion. Paran claims Cotillion took it from him. Oponn appears scared. It seems likely that Cotillion will give the sword over to Shadowthrone. The twin god vanishes and Paran collects Lorn's corpse.

Crokus stumbles across the demon's path right as Rake shows up. The two dragons shift to human form. Rake realises who Crokus is, but tells him Brood has persuaded him to leave him alive. He tells Crokus to flee as the fight will be close. The demon recognises Anomander's sword and names it Dragnipurake.
Wait a goddamn minute! What is this now? Well, as this series progresses you're gonna find out that Anomander has a hell of a lot of variants of his name. For now, just file that version away in the ever growing list. The demon also claims he smells Tiama in Rake and suggests his blood contains more of her than Tiste Andii. This might explain why he was a bigger dragon than Silanah. It hasn't been expressly stated who or what Tiam/Tiama is despite a couple of mentions but given the DnD roots you can put it together.
The two fight and quelle surprise, Rake wins, sucking the demon's soul into Dragnipur.

In Baruk's house, Derudan has conjured up a protective circle but Baruk is reluctant to enter, knowing that while he would be protected from magic inside he would be unable to retaliate and worse, still as vulnerable to mundane weapons. A third member of the cabal has been killed. just as Derudan convinces Baruk to enter the circle, Vorcan attacks from invisibility. Baruk is saved by the intervention of a Tiste Andii woman who Vorcan quickly dispatches. Baruk hurls lightning and Vorcan counterspells him. The dying Tiste Andii throws a dagger into Vorcan's back but it doesn't stop her. Derudan emerges from the circle to try and gank her in the confusion but Vorcan knocks her out. Crokus appears and throws two bricks at Vorcan. Wow, that was... lucky. It seems Oponn isn't done with Crokus. Panic over. Crokus leaves.

The Bridgeburners reassemble in the aftermath. They contact Dujek who knows about the demon lord as Tayschrenn has fallen into a coma. They fill Dujek in on the situation, including Lorn's death. Dujek tells them Pale is lost to Caladan Brood's forces and that Seven Cities is a week away from open rebellion. I've avoided a geography lesson so far so we'll just make it clear that Seven Cities is another continent, as opposed to Genabackis which is where Darujhistan is (and Quon Tali which is the heart of the Malazan Empire). Apparently a claw from the empire arrived with a message for Tayschrenn. Dujek intercepted the message, finding a handwritten order from the Empress to arrest and execute Dujek as an outlaw. Dujek plans to parlay with Caladan Brood and rely on the threat of the Pannion Seer to persuade Brood to let them leave alive. Dujek orders Whiskeyjack to head to Catlin Plain. Dujek makes it clear that everyone there is free to leave but if they choose to remain as a Bridgeburner, they are under his command. Kalam and Fiddler agree to take Apsalar home before they meet back up with the rest.

Meanwhile, in the garden, Rallick has failed to prevent the Azath from growing. It is now a full blown house. Somehow Rallick knows the house is empty. Vorcan appears, somehow not quite dead though in a terrible state. As she passes out, Rallick picks her up and enters the Azath.

Korlat, Serrat's sister, turns up in pursuit of Vorcan, with more Tiste Andii in tow. Korlat knows a little about Azaths. She cites the Deadhouse in Malaz City and the Odanhouse in Seven Cities as examples. She knows the door will not open for her or the other Tiste. They choose who enters, just as the Deadhouse chose to allow access to Kellanved and Dancer. Well, well, well. An interesting little nugget, isn't it?
If it wasn't clear already, Serrat was killed by Vorcan back in Baruk's house. Korlat says she will not take revenge against the Azath as it is but a child. She claims Mother Darkness spoke the same of Light when it was born. The other Tiste point out the flaw in that logic but Korlat insists that it's the hope that is important.

Kruppe, Murillio and Crokus meet up. It seems Kruppe is fully aware of Aspalar's intent to return home and Rallick's entry into the Azath. They skip off into the sunset, satisfied that Coll has been restored to his original title.

The Bridgeburners escape and as they are leaving Quick Ben observes Whiskeyjack. He asks himself if it's time... for the plan...
We have no idea what he's on about but it doesn't seem to bode well for Whiskeyjack. Either way, Quick Ben decides it's not yet time. What is that sneaky mage up to?

Captain Paran hears Tattersail's voice on the wind. At first he thinks he imagined it. He shares some personal thoughts in his mind and hears a second response. It seems it really is her.

Kalam, Apsalar, Fiddler and Crokus are escaping by boat. Circle Breaker is also escaping by this boat. Crokus throws Oponn's coin in the sea. Circle Breaker makes a mental note to pass that info on to the Eel. We've reached the end, of book one at least, but the story is far from over.

Whew, that was a lot! Now to unpack it a little. This served as a great introduction to the Malazan world for me. It might not be for everyone but the key themes really suckered me in, hinting at the deep lore to come.

The core tenet of these ancient powers juxtaposed by the relatively new humans that wield barely a fraction of their magic is something that I haven't seen done this well before and it's worth noting that this book barely scratches the surface. It can seem a little overwhelming with so many races thrown at us. It seems they are ridiculously powerful compared to the humans and yet already we can start to get a feel for the hierarchy of strength and how it can be manipulated.

Starting with the humanoids, we have the founding races, the most ancient of them all. Of these, three are, by and large, considered to be extinct. The K'Chain Che'Malle we still know nothing of and won't for some time. Our only clue to their power is the remote communication device revealed by Whiskeyjack. The Forkrul Assail are just as mysterious for now, widely believed to have fled somewhere unknown, never to be seen again. I'm sure that's completely true. The Jaghut we've had a taste of in the form of Raest who even without his Finnest was capable of going toe to toe with five dragons. We can only imagine the power of a Jaghut at full strength, That leaves the only founding race still standing, the T'lan Imass, who turned themselves undead in order to hunt the Jaghut to extinction. It is from this fourth race that humans eventually descended which may be why, with no foes of their own left to face and an endless existence ahead of them, they ended up in service to the Empire, serving as little more than tools of destruction. In terms of current strength it seems the T'lan Imass sit largely at the top of the pile, rendered near indestructible by their fire magic. Yeah, in case it wasn't clear, the Tellan Warren is fire magic. Omtose Phellack, the Jaghut Warren is ice so in a way it's only natural that these two should become mortal enemies.

After the founding races we of course have the Elder races, the most prominent of which, in this book at least, is the Tiste Andii. We've seen glimpses of the Tiste origins, how they were a race that lived in the darkness of Kurald Galain until light emerged and left them a race divided. This is expanded upon further in the unfinished Kharkanas Trilogy but what little we see of it here is fascinating. It's the opposite of the traditional Elven story in DnD where the Drow are the splinter faction. Here the mother of darkness comes first and the father of light formed the Tiste Liosan splinter faction. Of the traditional dichotomies in fantasy we now have fire vs ice and light vs darkness. There's no denying that the Tiste Andii under Rake's command are powerful, possessed with strong magic and the ability to take on dragon form as Soletaken. We'll learn more about shapeshifting further down the line but this ability elevates the Tiste Andii in power. Rake himself is a walking legend among the humans and it's easy to see why. In the absence of the other founding races, Rake is the pinnacle of power and has been for thousands of years, able to take on dragon form and in possession of Dragnipur, Rake could feasibly go toe to toe against the entire Malazan army and kill them by the thousands. He certainly manages to stand up to Shadowthrone. The Empire certainly has every reason to fear him and it's no wonder his mere presence stonewalls the siege of Pale. You can see why Laseen hatches this plot in the hope the Jaghut will take him down. We get a mere taste of his power as he fairly effortlessly kills the demon lord at the end of the book.

However, the long lives of these races is ultimately their downfall. The Imass won their war so long ago few even remember their enemy. The Jaghut feared their destructive power and chose oblivion. And the Tiste Andii languish in a listless ennui, with Rake taking a stance simply to have something to do. Beneath them all, the short lived humans have one thing they all lack. Drive. The ambition to take a stand, make a change, make their collective presence felt. With every legend that gets consigned to the history books, the humans come one step closer to inheriting this bleak world with their sheer numbers.

There are of course, other races to consider and many of these haven't yet made their presence felt but we'll come across them in future instalments. The one we did get a glimpse of is the Eleint, the true dragons with access to the first warren, Starvald Demelain. This implies that the Eleint may predate the founding races but like them, they are rarely seen. So far we have only seen Silanah and the fact that she has thrown her lot in with Rake and his Tiste Andii suggests she shares a similar disposition and while she did manage to destroy Raest's body, he wasn't at full power so we can't say for sure if she really was his superior. If nothing else, we know the Jaghut and the Eleint are comparable, at least one on one.

Even among the humans we have some stand-out displays of power and the human potential to reach those heights is another interesting facet of this tale. Hopefully you took note of the major human contenders. To my mind, they sit thus.
Kruppe, who feels a lot like the closest thing this story has to a psion, seemingly more powerful asleep than he is awake. Even Rake notes at the fete that Kruppe's small stature makes it easy to underestimate him. He seemed to be fully aware of every aspect of the Darujhistan convergence and was at least partially responsible for the resurrection of K'rul, Pran Chole and maybe the Rhivi woman? Not to mention the rebirth of Tattersail. More, Kruppe doesn't seem to use a specific warren, hence my comment about psionics, as he seems to use his magic with much less effort than everyone else. The debate over which warrens Kruppe has access to is a common topic on fan forums. Kruppe is definitely a major player with his fingers in many pies.

Of course we also have to consider Quick Ben who we now know can access at least seven warrens, quite the feat and as noted by Baruk, near impossible. He also managed to stand, however briefly, against Raest. We've seen him save Hairlock from death by transferring his soul, scry remotely, travel the ways between warrens and visit Shadowthrone directly, matching wits with the god. He has the power and the versatility to stand high among the human mages.

Paran is the next most obvious, though largely due to divine intervention and his magic items, first Chance and now Lorn's otataral blade. He's already died and come back to life and while he might lack the magical power of Kruppe and Quick Ben he did almost slay a Hound of shadow and has been inside Dragnipur and returned. With more meddling from the gods, he could be a major player.

Rallick has potential, seeing as how he now may be immune to magic as well as being inside an Azath, something we know Kellanved and Dancer also did before ascending to godhood.

We've also seen a few others who we cannot really assess from prominent characters such as Vorcan and Baruk as well as more distant characters like Caladan Brood and Kallor. Others that have yet to reveal the extent of their powers include the newly reborn Tattersail and Sorry/Apsalar, now free of The Rope's possession but with some carryover of his skillset. What they are capable of is yet to be seen and will be revealed further down the timeline along with many more characters to come.

And now we've dealt with the mortals, what about the gods? We've still yet to see some of the bigger names. From what we see in the story, Oponn and Shadowthrone are considered junior level among the gods and we know Shadowthrone used to be Emperor Kellanved and ascended a mere seven years before the siege of Pale. It kinda makes you wonder how quickly the church of shadow rose up, with Quick Ben able to rise to the rank of High Priest and then abandon his post in such a short time, but maybe seven years only seems short by our modern standards. It may be an eyeblink for the elder gods but Shadowthrone was unlikely to have been idle in that time. In terms of older, more powerful gods, we have seen many mentions of Hood, the god of death and no doubt he will prove to live up to expectations but we have no measure of his power or that of other gods mentioned only in passing like D'rek. The series will begin to expand upon the pantheon as we go and I'm looking forward to it.

Finally we have the mystery of the Azath and we will soon get some more info about that as well. I can see why the ending is divisive among first timers as the Azath are thrown into the mix just as you think you had a handle on the whole warrens thing and the Finnest. For now, this will remain an enigma.

Of course, ancient powers awakening is only one of the themes here. We also have the theme of convergence, the idea that those powers are drawn into inevitable conflict. The first convergence is at Pale, where the Bridgeburners, Tattersail, Toc, Tool, Lorn, Hairlock, Paran, Anomander Rake and even Gear congregate. Meanwhile in Darujhistan, there is Krul's Belfry and the bar, drawing various players while the hills outside further draw many of the characters, adding Raest to the mix. Finally the whole lot collapses on Lady Simtal's estate for the explosive finale. It's interesting that the only real casualties among our major players are Raest and Lorn, quite the failure for Empress Laseen it seems. And perhaps that's the point. The Malazan Empire has reached its peak and now faces an inevitable decline as new forces rise up to challenge it. The extent of the Pannion Seer's domain will become evident as we progress through the story.
There's also something of a theme of rebirth, with Tattersail and Raest obviously but also Paran, K'rul, Coll and Sorry as well as the Hounds' escape from Dragnipur.

And finally, underpinning it all are those echoes of DnD that make it such a treat for roleplayers who can instantly get a feel for what it would be like to play in a world like this. I love the parallels with DnD, the warrens, for example. The Elder warrens are basically elemental magic, darkness, light, fire and ice we've seen so far. The human warrens are lesser versions of these and we've seen two types discussed in some detail, that of Denul, healing and Rashan, illusion. Well, the mention of Rashan by Tattersail is actually an editing error and really that should have been Maenas. Either way, the human warrens seem to be aspects, analogous to the schools of magic in DnD although this doesn't hold true entirely, as the story unfolds we'll see human accessible warrens of similar elemental composition as the Elder warrens. I love the warrens as physical places though and the way that mirrors DnD planar cosmology. And in case I haven't said it enough I love the pantheon of gods. There are other IPs out there that have this old gods v new concept but this is my favourite instance. The way the series manages to include not only the conflicts between gods, but how that all interacts with the mortal world and the existing conflicts there. After all, this is a story about the Crippled God. in that way, book one, which stands alone as a tale of the Malazan Empire overstating its reach, is really just the primer. Next time, we'll delve into book two and learn more about the Azath. I'm excited. :)