In which Inkirani Yo has no idea of what’s about to hit her.
This chapter is from Inkirani’s point of view, for the first time in the book (and, I believe, the first time in the series, since in Alliance of Equals her motives and intentions were being concealed from the audience). So now we know how sincere she was about what she told Tocohl.
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Ahab-Esais
In which there is a light in darkness.
Inkirani said earlier that Tocohl’s builder had done good work, but she didn’t know the half of it.
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In which Admiral Bunter considers his options.
Oh, I see how it is: every time the story is about to shift to a different set of characters, something’s going to happen that will leave us worrying about one of the characters we’re parting from, until we see them again.
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In which Tolly does some housecleaning.
There’s a moment, when Tolly is reflecting on the horrors of being forced to do things against one’s will, when I get the feeling he’s recalling a specific thing from his own past. I wonder if we’ll be hearing more about it, at some point when he has less urgent things on his mind. (And I wonder if it has anything to do with the question of how Thirteen-Sixty-Two became Tolly Jones.)
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Admiral Bunter
In which Tolly ponders ethics.
Bits of this chapter remind me of “Wise Child”, the short story featuring Tolly.
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In which Tocohl hasn’t given up yet.
So, it appears that Inkirani Yo does have some genuine misgivings about her choice of action. Whether they’ll be enough to make a difference remains to be seen.
…and, as this is the end of the chapter, we’re off to check on some other characters next with that uncertainty hovering in the background.
That’s not a happy thought on which to end, so instead here’s a thought I just had about something Inkirani Yo said earlier: If she’s correct in her assumption that the Uncle is involved in the event she’s going to investigate, that means Daav and Aelliana will be about the place somewhere too. It might end up being them coming to the rescue of their kinswoman — who they don’t know is their kinswoman, and of whose very existence indeed they remain completely unsuspecting. Another one of the list of strange family reunions to look forward to.
In which Inkirani Yo explains her intentions.
Oh, nope, it’s not just a casual upsetting aside; we’re going to be hearing about it in detail.
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Ahab-Esais
In which Tocohl wakes up briefly.
The good news is, Tocohl didn’t choose to throw in her lot with one of the bad guys. The bad news is, that means she’s been taken captive instead.
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Surebleak
In which we are reunited with various people already resident on Surebleak.
As the first chapter of the latest book of a series, this is mainly concerned with reminding the reader (or introducing them if they’re entering the series here) who everyone is and what they’ve been up to. It’s quite a long chapter, which might simply be that it’s a long series and there are a lot of characters to catch up on — but then, we don’t catch up on everybody, which suggests that these might be just the characters we need to know about to follow what’s going to happen in this novel. Which suggests there’s going to be a lot happening.
(Just how long a chapter the first chapter is depends whether the first part of the novel set on Surebleak, divided into three sections headed I, II & III, is one chapter or three. I wrote the paragraph above thinking of the whole thing as one chapter, but on reflection, I think I’m going to blog it as three chapters, if only so that the blog entries are a reasonable length.)
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Admiral Bunter
In which Padi accepts her nature.
And so Aunt Anthora’s gift does come back into relevance – and now, considering also how interested she was to learn Padi had opened it, and what the occasion of that was, I’m wondering if Anthora somehow intended it to assist in Padi’s transition.