Reapers Gale Reflection

Published on: Sun Jan 18

Reapers Gale was a blast from start to finish. It explored colonialism and expansionism in a way that I’ve never seen in other books. Erikson’s character work shined with an even greater word economy then his previous books.

Naturally the main thing I want to talk about is Tehol and Bugg. Even more than in Midnight Tides, their scenes works as an escape from the brutalism of the Malazan world. There are so many bits from the two that are going to stick in my head forever. Everything to do with the chickens in the house had me cackling. Wouldn’t personally drink chicken tea with feathers but I respect Tehol for trying. The chicken in the stuffed pillow is so damn iconic. Bugg and his weirdly reptilian lawyer Sleem was so fucking funny. The cost per words bit and the full on agitation the lawyer felt and how Bugg just kept egging it on was perfect!

We finally get Tehol’s motivations revealed to us, which as a whole really resonated with me. Tehol fully understood what an economic upheavel like his could cause. He’s willing to take the full force of the people against himself. And his take on capitalism’s hold on the people of Letharas. The slow choking of everyone living under its weight. He’d rather have all of the pain now if it means changing the system for the better. Riots occur throughout the entire empire in its last act. None of the authority can maintain its hold when everyone is starving except the rich. When they can no longer ‘afford’ to live, and the mask of decency is slipped, the only reasonable answer is an upheavel.

Nothing shows the fascistic powers behind the status quo in these books then the Patriotists. Mainting control over the conquered Letharii through the use of a ‘secret’ police force (note: very similar to a certain group down south), the Patriotists don’t care that they’ve been conquered. They culturally conquer their conquerers in a way. Much of the Edur population begins to adapt to the way the Letharii live, worshipping the same golden god. Rhulad, who is still covered in gold, who wants to change the system. Who can see and understand the inherit corruption that exists in capitalism is shut down by the patriotists. Whispering of conspiracies in the ears of a child, all the while the Crippled God whispers to Rhulad. I like to think of Rhulad as a physical manifistation of the concept of money. There’s a level of irony to the Emperor of a nation in which money is so ingrained to have his body completely covered in gold. Rhulad keeps dying and coming back. The economy rises and falls. The value of gold is manipulated, Rhulad’s world is entirely decided by the people at the top of Letharii society. And it’s only when someone with no concept or understanding of the way of life comes to kill him does he truly die. While we never get an explanation of exactly what Tehol does as emperor (also one of the insanest bits that surprirsingly works as an ending), but the path to it involved violence. When the system refuses to change, when all other avenues are explored, violence is the only thing that can enact meaningful change.

My other favourite storyline in the book, featuring the coolest introduction ever, was the Bonehunters!! They’re back to uh. You know. Do something. Get revenge on Lethar, because Tavore wants to? Still a lot of confusion on what Tavore’s endgoal is. Her mystery still so utterly enthralls me. She has this beautiful speech that I talked about in a previous post which was probably my favourite scene of hers. The end of the book has her in talks with Tehol, which leaves me so goddamn excited for the next book. Even the one interaction the two had made me feel insane in a good way.

We left a debt in blood,’ she said, baring her teeth. ‘Malazan blood. And it seems they will not let that stand.’

They are here. On this shore.

The Malazans are on our shore.

The imagery of this scene alone is absolutely stunning. There’s something so raw about seeing a whole fleet of burning boats, and understanding that the invaders are already here. It’s a powerful declaration of intent. The Malazans aren’t leaving until they’ve conquered Lethar. And god their conquest of Lethar is gorgeous. It starts off awfully. They come in with the impression that the Letharii people want to be liberated from the Tiste Edur. It’s what you would expect, the Tiste Edur conquered them right? But in a way the Tiste Edur’ were the ones who were conquered. The taste of gold rings in many of the Edur we meet, and up until this point in the book we are constantly in the eyes of Letharii manipulating Edur. There are still Letharii in positions of power, the power structures only change was that some Edur were put above Letharii in roles they don’t understand.

I love how frantic the silent invasion feels. At first the Malazan’s feel invincible. Cussers alone are enough to deal with any problems they might face. But as they get closer to the capital and the combined Letharii and Edur forces catch onto their tactics, despair takes them. The 14th army still has no idea what the point of this invasion is. But they persist for an unknown cause. There’s an underlying trust in Tavore that the Bonehunters can’t admit to themselves. Through this whole process we hear character debate on the reason for any of this conquest. Even as Tavore’s initial plan fails, I believe that the Adjunct’s trust in her followers and her earnestness leave an effect on the army that they themselves are barely aware of. She is questioned, but never to the point that the Malazan soldiers abandon her.

Back to the conquest, while Tavore’s initial gambit fails, most of the squads end up converging near Letheras, facing heavy casualties. The two exceptions being Fiddler’s squad, and Hellian’s. In what may be the greatest tactical decision ever done, our favourite professional alcoholic ends up visiting taverns on her way through the empire. Turns out that killing the rich and drinking a bunch was the strategy the other squads needed to follow all along. The squads still alive sent out for the silent invasion end up meeting within a town Hellian conquered through her unconventional strategy, near Letheras. And I’m going to use this as a chance to talk about my favourite new character, Beak.

Beak was a surprise to me. I’ve heard about his character here and there but I never expected just how much he would resonate with me emotionally. Beak is an intellectually challenged individual. Although it’s never directly stated I do believe it is in response to the atrocities he faced during childhood. Beak would get beat all the time. Beak constantly got made fun of. Beak’s brother killed himself. Beak had no friends. People would cry when they talked to Beak. But this changed when he joined Adjunct Tavore’s army. He was still made fun of. He still made people feel uncomfortable. The beatings have finally stopped. Throughout all of this, Erikson portrays Beak in such a gentle way. His worldview is so beautifully portrayed in how he thinks. Everything comes to him so bluntly, he doesn’t understand why people react to him the way they do. Or why no one understands how Beak views the Warrens. Which comes into play in such a beautiful way. He views them as candles, referring to them as candles he lights up within himself. His role in this book is one of found family and self sacrifice. Beak gets recruited by Captain Faradan Sort as her mage in Letharii, used as a means to communicate with squads directly as her and Beak help in whatever way the squads under Sort need. Sort treats Beak with a basic human kindness he hasn’t experienced since his brothers passing. She listens to him, she encourages him to talk. She defends him from the mocking of other soldiers. In return she only asks for his magic. Beak eventually wears himself out, to the point where he can’t put out his candles anymore. Where he fully embraes his friendships as Sort through teary eyes tells him its okay to sacrifice yourself for your friends. This gentle moment between the two teared me up. Beak is so happy to go along with this.

Burning as bright as a candle, Beak sacrifices himself to ward off the Letharii mages waves of chaos. Renewing Sort’s squads in this pure white energy as Beak thinks of his brother hanging himself. Of how he was too small to stop his brother from strangling, how if only he was bigger he could have stopped it. Beak dies for his friends, wrapped his arms over his legs as all that remainds of him is an ashen statue. But it doesn’t stop there. Hood greets him on the other side. Although he wasn’t waiting for him specifically (his reason for waiting at the gates of death are way funnier), Hood treats Beak with kindness once again. Guiding Beak directly to where his brothers soul waits. I don’t think I give this section the justice it deserves, and I don’t know if I ever could without just handing you the book. I loved this storyline. Beak really didn’t get much screentime, but the time he did have was used so succinctly, to give this powerful impression of a character who struggled with the cards given to him. But still found his people. He was so loved in his death by Sort and Hood. In the afterlife by his brother. I was a bawling mess reading his death. I am so thankful to have gotten to read his story.

This is already running very long, but I do want to briefly touch on the rest of the storylines within the book. Nimander and the rest of the Drift Avalii Tiste Andii storyline was so bizzare to me it left me craving more. The Tiste Andii all have their own issues, and the writing for them is strangely Faulkner-esque? Which I absolutely adore. Hate Clip but his lying ass is guideng them straight to Rake hopefully??? Icarium and Karsa’s storyline was really funny until the end where it was just the rawest thing ever. Toc the Younger coming back in the Red Mask storyline ruled. Tool’s reaciton to Toc’s death made me cry. Red Mask’s storylines commentary on white savior complex got me thinking a lot. Udinaas squad all hating each other was really funny. Can’t wait to get to Toll the Hounds !

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