Welcome to the Malazan Reread of the Fallen! Every post will start off with a summary of events, followed by reaction and commentary by your hosts Bill and Amanda (with Amanda, new to the series, going first), and finally comments from Tor.com readers. In this article, we’ll cover the first part of chapter five of Stonewielder.
A fair warning before we get started: We’ll be discussing both novel and whole-series themes, narrative arcs that run across the entire series, and foreshadowing. Note: The summary of events will be free of major spoilers and we’re going to try keeping the reader comments the same. A spoiler thread has been set up for outright Malazan spoiler discussion.
CHAPTER SUMMARY
SCENE ONE
The Malaz fleet has been losing ships to hit and run Mare attacks. Greymane and Nok reveal to Devalath the Blue Moranth will form a skirmish line to engage the Mare fleet while the transport ships punch through to land. Devaleth is horrified by the expected losses and warns them the Mare magery (Ruse) means their ships cannot sink. Greymane asks her why she has joined the Malazans and she replies it is to rid the land of the Lady, telling them the first Malazan invasion failed because Korelri had already been conquered. She realizes somehow they knew or understood and agrees to stay with Nok during the coming battle. Greymane assigns Kyle to the assault and says he’ll be on the last transport.
SCENE TWO
Nok asks Greymane if Kyle is up to it and Greymane informs him that Kyle is from Assail. Nok replies that’s impossible, but Greymane says he was with the Guard in Assail and that’s where Kyle was recruited, having come down from the northern parts. Nok asks about the Imass, and Greymane says Kyle knows nothing of the wars or fighting in the north, though three friends of his probably knew more.
SCENE THREE
Goss’ group crosses over to one of the Blue vessels.
SCENE FOUR
Still trapped by the Hounds, Kiska and Leoman discuss his fighting against the Malazans in Seven Cities. He says he was “young, foolish. I thought I was so fast and skilled and smart that nothing could touch men,” but that the war taught him those qualities didn’t matter—it all came down to chance. Kiska objects that the gods must decide, but he says while they might intervene, they are as “bound by happenstance as we,” an idea he finds “endlessly reassuring.” Kiska, made nervous by Leoman and his ideas, puts together her special Moranth-made staff and pops out to see if the Hounds are still out there. They are. Leoman helps her fend one off and he and she retreat back to the cave.
SCENE FIVE
Aboard Nok’s flagship, Devaleth awaits what she assumes will be a slaughter, though she thinks she herself might survive to shore thanks to her Ruse magic. She thinks though “something has to be done.”
SCENE SIX
Devaleth tells Nok she’ll sense when the Mare order their attack. Nok, realizing she thinks they have no chance, tells here the Malazans and Moranth have been allies for some time and have “achieved great things with what minor alchemies” they’d traded for. She says she’d heard that alliance had soured lately, and Nok admits the Moranth haven’t been offering any more soldiers, which he says may be an internal problem. He then tells the Moranth liaison to give the order.
SCENE SEVEN
Suth’s ship starts to move forward and he watches as flashes of light and flame fill the sky. The Moranth employ incendiaries that not only burn the ships when they hit but also sets the water itself aflame.
SCENE EIGHT
Devaleth watches the engagement in horror, telling Nok it’s barbaric. They move on, narrowly missing being rammed by a Mare ship. Devaleth calls this response “more than humbling. It was shattering.”
SCENE NINE
Rillish’s marines board one of the Mare ship when it nears. The Mare mage wreaks havoc until Captain Peles kills him. He notes how the magic didn’t seem to bother her and she says “The Wolves were with me this day.” They take the ship and Rillish suggests taking another.
SCENES TEN—ELEVEN
Suth’s ships gets snared by huge grapples to hold them while Mare warships approach. Kyle cuts the iron chains with his cool sword. They make it past the Mare and they’re told the assault will come tomorrow.
SCENE TWELVE
A Mare ship nears Rillish’s captured one and he has the soldiers hide while Sketh lures them closer. The marines board the other ship and take it. They follow the transports closer to land.
Amanda’s Reaction
It must be so very difficult to force yourself to remain calm in the event of hit and run tactics, to not respond in the way that your enemy wants you to. You could absolutely see why morale would be sinking (haha, pun). I guess this is one way in which sea battles are a ton easier than land battles—you rarely get the same levels of deserting, since everyone is pretty much trapped. Mutiny must be an issue though!
Hearing their strategy is pretty grim—planning to lose so many lives just to achieve getting the fleet through the Marese. Here from Greymane you can absolutely see the conviction we’ve witnessed in many a Malazan commander prior to this: “I am charged to secure this front for the Empire. And I intend to do that. One way. Or another.”
Ruse is pretty damn powerful—and does let us know how these Marese have proved so successful in previous sea battles.
The cult of the Lady bears a lot of similarities to other gods we’ve seen, such as the Dying God and, I guess, the Crippled God. These gods also represent a sickness.
Ah Greymane—he understands the notion of the captain going down with his ship! And proving to the men that he believes they will survive.
Ooh, a little hint about Kyle and a potential mystery surrounding him, coming from Assail as he does. I think Greymane is utterly right when he says that Kyle’s previous companions knew way more than they said.
I like Esslemont’s increasing grasp on military humour: “Call this a storm?”
I sort of see the realm of Shadow very like the places that Frodo went through in Mordor—dark, unearthly, grim but at times oddly beautiful.
Speaking of grim, I’m not fond of Leoman’s view on war—even if it does strike me as being pretty accurate:
“Chance. It all just comes down to dumb chance. Whether you live or die. Chance. The tossed siege boulder crushing the man next to you.”
Presents a futile view, doesn’t it? No matter how skilled you are, it might be worth nothing…
Having seen what has happened to many of the gods in the Malazan world so far, I would agree with Leoman when he says:
“Oh, certainly they intervene occasionally, when it suits their purposes, but otherwise I think they are as bound by happenstance as we.”
Lots of mentions of Kyle’s youth here—I’m guessing deliberately so. I don’t think the reader has many doubts that he can’t achieve what he is being asked to.
Some great build-up to the Blue Moranth and what they are capable of in the conversation between Nok and Devaleth. Also, intrigued by the mention that the alliance between Malazan and Moranth in general has cooled somewhat—what caused this and why?
And I especially like that Nok talks about the minor alchemies the Moranth were willing to trade—this includes things like cussers, yes? If so, I can’t wait to see what the Moranth held back!
Loving this picture of Wess asleep on Suth’s shoulder, despite the cramped conditions and what is about to happen!
This battle using Moranth incendiary reminds me very much of GRRM’s battle of Blackwater—seeing the green flames jump from ship to ship and burning even on the water.
And then a fine sequence of battle scenes, including Kyle unleashing the formidable power of the sword he bears, and people realising that he might well be able to cut it after all (pun, ha!) I think Esslemont shows increasing maturity and finesse with his writing, particularly in battle scenes. I’ve always found sea battles a little bit of a washout (pun, ha!) but this one was done in a manner that kept me gripped throughout.
Bill’s Reaction
The Mare hit and run are a nice parallel to the times we’ve seen the same tactics on land—swift in-and-out raids to bleed a large enemy. And we see Nok, like a good land commander, isn’t doing what the enemy wants these raids to do—lure out the defenders or force them to mass together so either way they can be killed more easily.
I like too how we don’t get this reveal until now about just why the Mare are such a fearsome sea power—literally unsinkable ships I hear might be a pretty big advantage in naval warfare.
I’m sure they have backup plans, but since “Ever board and rope is bound by ward and ritual to the will of the captain,” I wonder what happens when the captain takes a stray arrow through the throat or heart.
That’s an interesting little throwaway line—that the Warren of Ruse is a “forgotten mystery” to the Malazans. I wonder why that is.
The Lady, it seems, is not making a lot of friends. We’ve got several folks now who have mentioned her (justifiably it would seem) as a kind of blight on this land. While Greymane and Nok have said they are there to deal with the Sixth, their knowledge and perhaps more importantly their “understanding” of Devaleth’s sorrow over the Lady’s power might intimate a mission beyond reining in a mutinous army. The Lady has several fronts she’ll be fighting on perhaps—can she survive that?
Nok’s reaction to the news that Kyle is from Assail is a nice tease for the next book, due out sometime (a shifting time) within next year. But as Nok says, “one mystery at a time.”
I like how Esslemont gives us the tension and danger of simply crossing from one ship to another here, rather than relying solely on the easy excitement of battle. I actually could have had that scene last a little longer, had it play up the danger a bit more. But it’s a nice reminder that anything in the ocean can become fraught with risk.
A nice contrast—from heaving seas and “I hate all this fucking water” to Kiska watching a dust storm crossing a plain.
Have to chuckle at Leoman’s startled “Oh no, I haven’t met anyone smarter or more skilled than I,” a complete opposite of the usual cliché here of how someone learns the lesson that there is always someone bigger and meaner and more dangerous than you. I also like how that arrogance reinforces her view of him as “like a cat.”
Well, having known Corabb, it’s easy to see how Leoman might think “chance” plays such a large role in what happens in war. I thought we’d seen some discussion of this before—skill versus chance in battle. Am I remembering rightly or am I vaguely recalling some other book? Anyone remember a similar dialogue in this series? I certainly see his point and agree with it to some extent. But it’s also hard for me to believe skill (or, you know, magic swords) don’t help. I do see (and would have the same reaction were I in his place) his feeling of being reassured by the idea that the gods themselves are hindered/bound by happenstance.
Another nice contrast between scenes—the wide open seas in the fleet scenes and this cramped, confining cave in this one. The huge numbers of opposing forces in the former and the two on one (or is it two?) in this one.
Lot of questioning of whether or not Kyle is “up to it” I don’t remember my first read, but I’m thinking I’d have guessed we were being set up for proof that he was.
That tiny word Noz uses—“minor” in “We’ve achieved great things with what minor alchemies they were willing to trade with us.” Makes one think we might see something “not minor” coming up. Their brazier and alchemy signaling is also a nice bit of foreshadowing.
And then we get it. Poor Devaleth, to see her people not just killed, not just in numbers, but burned to death. That has to be a horrible sight (not to mention sound and scent). Is it any more “barbaric” than regular killing, as Devaleth and Nok debate? This is not the first time the Moranth munitions have been looked at askance and it will not be the last. Is there such a thing as “uncivilized” war? Perhaps we should ask the resident of Dresden or Tokyo? Nagasaki and Hiroshima? The group now in Syria dismantling chemical weapons responsible for killing 1% of those who lost their life in that war?
We’ve talked a lot about how cinematic this series can be in places and I’d say this is absolutely one of those. The two fleets facing off, the flash and flare and flame (colored flame) of the munitions, the ramming, the grapnels shooting out, the wreathing smoke. That great moment of Nok’s flagship narrowly passing by the Mare war galley and Nok saluting the Mare tillerman (love that moment!). The pirate-movie-like boarding party. The Ruse magic killing the marine.
I wonder how often one of the Malazans opponents had felt not just “humbled” but “shattered.”
It’s hard to believe nobody had thought about boarding a ramming Mare ship, to be honest, but nonetheless, I do like this scene with Rillish. Even more so, I like his “let’s get another.”
Captain Peles: The Wolves are strong with this one…
Well, Kyle so far is up to the job. Or at least, his magic sword is. I have to say that Kyle has never been my favorite character, so my “is he up to it” is different than the characters’. We’ll have to see…
Amongst all the warfare and horror and tension, the moments with Sketh and the Mare are a nice bit of comic relief.
It’s nice to see a different sort of battle, and I thought this was handled quite well. Other reactions?
Amanda Rutter is the editor of Strange Chemistry books, sister imprint to Angry Robot.
Bill Capossere writes short stories and essays, plays ultimate frisbee, teaches as an adjunct English instructor at several local colleges, and writes SF/F reviews for fantasyliterature.com.
But he has a moustache now! :P
I love it. ICE writes great big battles, like in RotCG, and we haven’t had any sort of big naval battle in any of the books prior. It’s really nice to get something so fresh for a big battle sequence after so many previous books with big land battles.
Plus it has Rillish at his most awesomest.
The obscuring storm and the way we learn about the Marese from Devaleth rather than having any ‘enemy’ PoVs like we often do makes the Marese nicely enigmatic and scary, too.
I thought it was a good battle and the Moranth munitions are a good honored Malazan tactic. Devaleth had basically been smug that “well of course all of you people are about to die” so I don’t have much sympathy for her.
It did seem odd that they didn’t think of boarding parties more. That was actually my first thought. They have Malazan Marines so ships that can’t sink just make for better boarding. The Romans thought of that in the first Punic war with their Corvus–if you can’t outsail them then board them and turn it into a land battle.
But, things worked out pretty well for the Malazans anyway.
I tend to agree with Leoman’s position. Randomness plays a much larger role in people’s lives than they are usually comfortable admitting. Part of being a successful military commander is trying to limit the places where random events can prove a tipping point on a large scale battle. In an individual soldiers life, yes the random stone/arrow/gopher hole can pretty much ruin anyone’s day.
#2 Re Steven Halter’s comment, “Randomness plays a much larger role in people’s lives than they are usually comfortable admitting. Part of being a successful military commander is trying to limit the places where random events can prove a tipping point on a large scale battle.”
You can cross off “military commander” and replace it with any leadership role, and “on a large scale battle” and replace it with “in almost any life or business situation”.
Wilbur@3:Agreed. Although it is also interesting that a large proportion of what is perceived as limiting random events are really opening yourself to other less understood random events eventually leading to catastrophic failure.
The Stormwall is actually a nice example of this.
From what we saw of the Marese in RotCG, it seems one of their favoured tactics is to ram your ship with deadly spikey things on the front of their ships, and then run away leaving you to drown. Given that their ships are probably more maneuverable with their Ruse mages, it’d be very tough to successfully board ships engaged in those sort of maneuvers. It’s absolutely possible, but I wouldn’t plan on it being the main tactic of any assault against them!
I was not a big Kyle fan either. In RotCG, besides the issue with his name, I never really got a handle on his appearance (outside of “stocky plainsman”), nor ever found him all that interesting.
However, I like him much more as a charcter in SW. I think mainly because he is not the POV, and we see him through the other characters’ eyes. I find he comes off kind of mysterious and menacing in SW, which I didn’t get from him at all in the previous book. I wonder what my reaction to him as a character would have been if I had read SW before RotCG(which I almost did).
Probably not that different. He’s a pretty passive observer throughout RotCG, when he’s not in escape mode, and a re-read didn’t change that much. He takes a decent amount of initiative in SW, and it’s a breath of fresh air for the character. To be honest (and I’ll avoid detail/spoilers), in some ways Suth kinda feels like a reboot of the original Kyle character that corrects some of the earlier missed opportunities, and comes out all the better for it. I don’t know if anyone else feels that way.
Amanda:
You could absolutely see why morale would be sinking (haha, pun).
Marry me. Our senses of humour really connect ;)
:-D :-D
Tufty–I’d agree boarding would be difficult, but it’s just hard to imagine nobody’s thought of it, especially if you’re getting wiped out. It’s also odd that they wouldn’t have planned a bit for it this time around. I do think the goal is to not engage the Mare if possible, so I can see it not being a tactic, but a more planned “just in case” would seem to have made sense. I also wonder just how quickly one can disengage a rammed ship.
I do agree with much of Leoman’s position on chance; I just think one can’t dismiss skill too much. For instance, this book has been doing a lot to point out the advantage of skill (discipline, teamwork, etc.) when it comes to defeating other groups. And the Seguleh certainly make a case for skill (too large a case for my liking, but still . . .). I know given the option of a squad of green recruits and a squad of Seguleh to be embedded with, I’ll take the later, not assuming it would guarantee my survival, but it would greatly increase the odds, even taking “chance” into account.
I think one other issue with boarding is taking on the Ruse mages. Captain Rillish’s men seemed to be having a hard time of it until Captain Peles managed to rush the mage thanks to her protection from the Wolves of Winter. I guess you could argue modern day Malazans could also bring the Moranth munitions which seems to be the great leveler against sorcery. But do you really want to be throwing bombs on the ship you are boarding in the middle of the ocean?