In the Hall of the Mountain King
In which Korval prepares to receive guests.
We have not previously encountered Finifter’s Shave, the ship that brought Toragin and Chelada to Surebleak, but the planet Finifter has been mentioned a couple of times. It’s one of the stops on Tan Sim’s trade route in Trade Secret, and one of the planets discussed in Culture Club in Saltation.
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Jelaza Kazone
In which Emissary Twelve has thoughts about change.
There’s a lot of thinking about the future in this chapter: about what they will do if Boss Surebleak wins, and, perhaps more importantly, what kind of future they will shape if Boss Surebleak doesn’t win.
That makes, I believe two appointments the portmaster has tomorrow, beginning two hours apart. I wonder if they will collide in some fashion.
In which one remains in plain sight and vulnerable.
One’s own mother used to say “Sleep tight, and don’t let the bedbugs bite”. Apparently bedbugs are one unpleasantness that isn’t found on Surebleak. (They prefer a tropical climate, I gather.)
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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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In which the Road Boss comes home.
I spent the entire epilogue waiting for Theo to show up, or Daav and Aelliana, or all of them together, but it didn’t happen. Perhaps Daav’s homecoming, like the downfall of the Department, is a large enough thing to require the length of an entire book to tell it.
Maybe Daav and Aelliana are even home already and the narrator’s just not mentioning it, to avoid being distracting. Or they may be just about to arrive; the hint of the seed pods could go either way. Theo’s definitely not back yet, judging by Miri’s reaction to the vision of her with the seedling from Spiral Dancer; Miri doesn’t know it’s a thing that’s actually happened. (It has to be a thing that’s happened, because the business with Admiral Bunter shows that this is after Dragon Ship – so it’s interesting that it’s in among a bunch of visions of things that haven’t happened yet. I wonder if the young woman in Scout leathers is who Lizzie will grow up to be.)
Another thing that’s happened is “The Rifle’s First Wife”, since there she is among Korval’s other guests. I suppose that means the events of that story have been happening alongside the events of this one (or perhaps in the gap between the last chapter and this epilogue, if it’s large enough, although I seem to recall “The Rifle’s First Wife” begins when Hazenthull is still on Surebleak and Kareen is still guesting at Jelaza Kazone).
And that’s it. Nothing left to read. Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow: A few retrospective posts.
Jelaza Kazone
Surebleak
In which Jeeves brings an urgent request to the delm.
That’s what you get, Miri, for tempting fate by being thankful you didn’t have to deal with Pat Rin’s problem in fleecy robe and slippers.
(It occurs to me that there’s a conceptual connection between Jeeves’s intention to create a child and what Val Con and Miri were doing when he interrupted, although Val Con and Miri presumably weren’t motivated by the same intention in this instance.)
The idea of Jeeves’s child coming to Korval is interesting; Jeeves, as far as I know, is not counted a member of the clan himself, any more than the other household servants. Perhaps it’s an option opened up by the fact that he came to the delm for permission. I don’t think a household servant would normally do that; inform their employer of a factor likely to affect their performance, yes, but the decision itself would be in the hands of their own delm. (I’m thinking, among other examples, of Jeeves’s predecessor Mr pak’Ora, who was called by his delm to serve his clan in another role, with his employer being given no say and left to cover his absence at short notice.) Jeeves, of course, doesn’t have a delm of his own, which may be another factor in Val Con’s offer. If it is an offer, and not an ultimatum: there have been cases where a child has gone to another clan as Balance for trouble caused by the parent. I don’t think that’s what’s going on here, even though Jeeves admitted fault for the present emergency, but I suspect that the possibility is one of the reasons he had to stop and think before accepting the delm’s word.
In which Val Con speaks to his heir.
It’s a prologue. Not much to say about it, really. It reintroduces the key points for new readers, and for returning readers who don’t happen to have just finished reading the preceding novels.
One thing about doing it in a scene like this, instead of just doing a Story So Far narration straight to the audience, is that it also introduces a few characters, not just in the sense of telling the reader that they exist and what their names are, but also by showing what they’re like as people and how they interact with each other.
Tradedesk
In which Theo explores the shopping district and her options.
That’s two different ways the authors have signalled the correct pronunciation of “Bechimo” this book, when most of the names in this series are lucky to be accorded one. I remember thinking when I got this far the first time that the authors must have fielded a lot of queries about it, or had to put up with a lot of mispronunciations, to expend so much effort on making it clear. Or maybe only the first time was for the benefit of the readers, and this time is an acknowledgement that if people who are unfamiliar with the name are liable to get it wrong in the real world the same is true of characters in the story.
I’m going to make note of the bit about the Department being able to implant a hidden course of action into a person’s mind, in case it comes up again later. Well, it has at least once, I guess, if that’s what Agent bar’Obin used to reel in Rys in the written-later Necessity’s Child. And, of course, we might already have seen it in action without knowing it. Though I figure they didn’t use it on the guy they sent to assassinate Miri at the party, or he wouldn’t have been deflected by his personal qualms.
The sections of the story told from Theo’s point of view are increasingly including explicit references to Theo’s temper and the effects it has on others, which indicates an increased amount of self-awareness on her part.
Another interesting moment reflecting Theo’s personal evolution is when, without apparently thinking anything of it, she uses the phrase “back home” to refer to returning to Bechimo.
In which Rys says a hello and Syl Vor says a farewell.
This book is Syl Vor’s big step into the spotlight, but it’s also casting new light on Nova, showing aspects of her other than the one who stays home being strait-laced while all her siblings hare around acting precipitously and making witty banter.
The bit where Syl Vor maybe-falls-asleep against the Tree reminds me – particularly with Kezzi talking about “dreaming together” in the other half of the chapter – of “Dragon Tide”, and the dragons that used to sleep in the branches of the Tree’s ancestors and share their dreams.
(I also note that somebody, presumably the Tree, is doing some pretty blatant manipulation to get Syl Vor out to receive his gift, and then back in as soon as it’s done. It’s interesting that Syl Vor’s hand enters the last override code without his conscious mind getting involved; is that just a limitation of the process, or is the Tree making an effort to make sure he doesn’t remember it and use it on some other less appropriate occasion?)
And the continuing emphasis on dreaming from Silain and Kezzi reminds me that I was reminded recently that the authors are fans of Janet Kagan’s novel Hellspark, which leads to the realisation that the luthia reminds me somewhat of layli-layli calulan from that novel.
In which Syl Vor finds something useful to do.
The overheard conversation about Val Con and Nelirikk solidly establishes when this is happening relative to Ghost Ship.
It’s interesting that Syl Vor thinks he might rather face Grandaunt Kareen than Aunt Miri. It’s not because Miri is delm, because melant’i means that she’s only the delm when she’s being the delm, and he’s just finished going through the fact that she’s not being the delm at the moment. It might be a familiarity thing; formidable as she is, he’s known Kareen all his life and has a fair idea what to expect from her, but he met Miri for the first time just recently and she’s still something of an unknown.