Published on: Sun Oct 18
Within a 12 year span, Malazan Book of the Fallen was released from start to finish. In 10 books, Steven Erikson makes his case for compassion cumulating in âThe Crippled Godâ. The end of his decade long plea leaves room for contemplation. For reflection on the entire series. For an entirely warped perspective of the writing of the last 10 books.
Forced into a foreign world, broken into a million burning bits of skin and flesh, to be chained for the rest of his life. Kaminsod should have been so obvious as a tragic figure since the hints of his story began in âMemories of Iceâ. Manipulating Felisin Paran, Rhulad Sengar, and Pannion Seer. Trying to control Karsa Orlong. Heating the earth up merely by existing. And he was our âmain villainâ until the end of âReaperâs Galeâ. He is someone that we should have no care for. How does one redeem themselves when they have caused so much harm to the world? But viewing it from the perspective of his lashing out, an image becomes much clearer. In a world that hates him for what he is, where every instance of him is chained in a burning tent. Was his decision making rash? Was the reason he felt so strongly towards the previously mentioned character because they were experiencing something similar to him? Felisin hating her sister, Rhulad jealous of his brothers, Pannion terrified of what the Kchain Châmelle have done to his kind? What if this crippled being just wanted to connect to others going through similar pains? Enhancing the feelings they had as victims to the point they felt the same as he did? A false compassion that in a way justifies the gods pain. It is only through Tavore Paranâs eyes that we see a different view of compassion.
Tavore stares directly at Kaminsods suffering and sees his pain. She doesnât justify his lashing out, only that she has to end the root cause of his outbursts. Itâs deeply admirable and disturbing. Why should a early 20âs person be the only one to lead the world to this? How cruel does a world have to be to leave a burden so large on someone so young comparatively? Tavore doesnât have the tools to deal with the people around her. She is unable to lead in a traditional sense in the world of Malazan, every attempt at a rousing speech leading to an awkwardness she cannot escape. But the Bonehunters continue to follow her. Itâs implied that it comes from a place of earnestness. She isnât offering anything in return, if anything she offers less than nothing. No witness to the actions they will do. No guarantee of surviving. But that earnestness is the kindest she can be. She is confident in what must be done and will stop at nothing to see it complete. Not a single crack in her emotional armour until this last book.
Facing mutiny as she leads a decimated army across an uncrossable desert, her wall starts to crumble. She starts to fear what is coming. She tells Blistig of all that she had to do to defend him. She explains her reasoning for wanting to save the Crippled God. She becomes a âmotherâ to the Snake. She âsacrificesâ herself to get water for her army. And finally she witnesses the unnamed characters in these books. The regulars were named by her. For someone who was best known as claiming the Bonehunters cause to be unwitnessed, she has witnessed each and every single soldier in her own way. History may forget them all but she witnessed it all in her own way ;-;. Her last stand against the Forkul Assail supported by her brother and she fully breaks as she approaches him. It felt like Tavore was about to kill another one of her siblings until Ganoes stops her. A moment which almost made me throw up with how hightened the emotions felt in the moment. Tavore screaming covered in blood, and once her brother takes off his helmet she starts bawling. How she couldnât save Felisin. Itâs been 3-4 years since that happened in the world and sheâs been holding onto that this entire time. Itâs such a beautiful ending to her story :).
On a completely different end of the world lies the Kharkansas story. The Shake dying to protect a place that their ancestors despised. Led by blood vows made before their time. It rings of forgiveness in a way, as the current generation of Shake has seen the state the Tiste Andii are in. The people with no purpose in their elongated lives, abandoned by their god. The Shake protecting the Shore from the Tiste Liosan, purists who want to purge all that is different. The storyline reached its conculsion a fair bit before the Bonehunters but stayed thematically inline with what âThe Crippled Godâ was trying to portray. Also I could tell that Erikson had a blast writing the action in this section. Yedan Derryg ripping the spine out of a dragon is easily the sickest thing in the entire series. I loved seeing Nimander again, confronting a ghost of Phaed and a corrupted Sandalath. Such an intense section that makes me really excited about getting to the Kharkansas Trilogy eventually! (Not anytime soon, I need a break after reading this series for a year straight)
Loved loved loved Brys in this book. One of my favourite moments in the book happens as he finally reveals the names he learned in âMidnight Tidesâ. He reflects on how heâs somehow reached an unknown dream, only to be scared of dying knowing that the dream will die with him. The prose in this scene is so cool to me
âYou walk the steps of your life, and always that dream beckons, that dream waits. You donât know if it can ever be made real. You donât know that, even should you somehow stumble upon it, you wonât find it less than it was, less than it could have been â if only you could have kept that distance, kept it just outside armâs reach. For ever shining. For ever unsullied by the all-to-real flaws of your own making.â
Also the letter Tehol sends Brys is the greatest letter ever. It was great seeing the backup come to Brys but even better was the letter being read out loud, with 90% of the letter basically being Tehol ranting about being a king and wondering if Brys and Arranict had sex yet. Itâs a bright light in one of the darkest sections of the book that made me both bawl and laugh.
Fiddler as always was the heart of the book. The reluctant soldier who stays out of a belief in the cause. Fiddler as an everyday man depicts what the general thoughts about the Bonehunters goal as they march. He doesnât care for the Crippled God, but he was never asked to. The God has asked nothing of anyone and expected nothing. Itâs why they were all able to die for the cause. Because Tavore opened her heart to them at their most vulnerable, and simply asked for help with no offer of anything. That belief of doing the right thing carried to everyone. Despite being unwitnessed. The book ends with Fiddler at the same location as the prologue of âGardens of the Moonâ, with a fishing rod and a child who wants nothing more than to be a soldier. Instead of belittling the child, Fiddlers perspective has been changed to a âwhy notâ attitude. Why not do something that can lead to a greater change in the world?
At the peak of the climax, alongside Tavoreâs scream on a different battlefield we see the marines and heavies last stand. Protecting the Crippled God, who in that moment, overwhelmed with awe at the events happening before him decides to write his own âBook of the Fallenâ for each and every soldier dying for him if he is freed. Which recontextualizes so much of these books. That he is the author of everything, barring âToll the Houndsâ Darujhistan sections of course thank you Kruppe for your beautiful words. Is the series supposed to be Kaminsod trying to understand what each and every person involved in his freedom did? What led them down the path that they took? What sacrifices they had to take? All these questions make me want to reread the series in a new light. How much of Eriksons plea for compassion did I miss? Itâs a fun idea to think about, and Iâm sure an even more fun reread waiting for me. On the soldier side of things on the hill, as the last remaining Bonehunters die out we have this beautiful moment.
âSo, who are we fighting for again?â
âEveryone.â
âNo wonder weâre losing.â
No idea who is saying this line in the panic, despite only 15 soldiers left alive, but this moment is what breaks the Kolansii and Forkul army. Laughing in the face of fascism starting directly at them. The Kolansii take a moment to stand in awe of them before the Forkul warren assimilates their senses again. Which gives Kalam and Quick Bent the opening to kill the last pure on the enemy side. Itâs a very hopeful way of beating purity. The absurdity of their ideals and methods just being laughed at. It would be a greater world if it was that simple to beat it. An incredibly hopeful ending.
I want to end this little reflection/ review off with a quote from Erikson done during an interview with Tor rereads.
âCompassion is a plea. I voiced it through ten straight novels. Of that (and as I see that virtue die day by day around me, in that depressing deluge of despair and stupidity we call the News), I have nothing left to give. Now donât take that as self-pity. It isnât. It would be without the existence of the Malazan Book of the Fallen (for me, that is). But the series does exist, and in it I said everything I had to say, in as many ways of saying it as I could. That voice has run its course. And I know, for good or ill, that it was the best I could do, and if that isnât good enough, then nothing is.
And maybe thatâs another part of that shadow. The whispering thought: maybe nothing is. Good enough, I mean. A notion leading me back, yet again, to my ongoing reconciliation with failure. Compassion as a plea is actually a complicated idea. It demands so much of the reader (and so many rejected the request, as was and is their right, and for me, no harm no foul) and then, when the reader accepts, it demands still more of them. Sure, the plot says âengage your brain for this: youâll need itâ but the story says ânow engage your feelings, and yes, if I can, I will make you cry, and grieve, and, hopefully, come out the other side feeling strangely elated, with life shining a bit brighter than it did before.â Itâs a big ask, because it wants your trust, and the only trust I could offer in return was this promise: It will work out in the end. We will end up in a place, open and solemn and brimming with love. Because (and this is so obvious and so simple it hurts to say it) you canât know compassion without love. Of course, the only way for me to say that was to assure you all that I knew what I was doing, and where I was going. But sometimes thatâs not enough.â