First Lines

The story begins at 1154th Year of Burn’s Sleep (BS) or the 96th year of the Malazan Empire (ME). The novel opens with the line:

 

The stains of rust seemed to map blood seas on the black, pocked surface of Mock’s Vane.

 

This is a very foreboding opening if there ever was one. Very vivid, yet brief, and suggestive of the tone of the novel. Love it. Even the next lines add to this tone and describes the setting, oh so beautifully.

 

A century old, it squatted on the point of an old pike that had been bolted to the outer top of the Hold's wall. Monstrous and misshapen, it had been cold-hammered into the form of a winged demon, teeth bared in a leering grin, and was tugged and buffeted in squealing protest with every gust of wind.

 

Reminds me of some wordy 19th Century gothic novel. Needless to say, the author is very good at building his world. The way he introduces us to it is very style-driven which makes it that more memorable. The added tone makes it more melancholic which is very different from the sense of wonder we usually get from the standard fantasy novel.

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The Bridgeburner

By the 4th paragraph we get to meet our first protagonist (since this is an epic fantasy novel, I would be vexed if there weren’t at least 20 main characters in this book), Ganoes Stabro Paran of House Paran (Nice name, rolls off the tongue quite well if I may say so myself). We are shown that there’s some sort of revolution going on (fire, check. Blood, check. Riot, check. Yep, standard revolution going on here. Nothing to see here, nothing to see).

He is joined by a high ranking soldier from a group known as the Bridgeburner (the author makes such a big deal on handing out this info which must mean that these guys must be the real deal). The two of them exchange a few words with each other and we get to know a few events happening in the story:
 

1. The First Sword of the Empire (I dare you to think of a rank more “Metal” than First Sword), Dassem Ultor, is dead or at least missing.

 

2. Ganoes Paran is a son of a merchant with a lot of connections.

 

3. Gods in this novel are real, live beings. It is said Dassem Ultor betrayed one (I wonder which one). This is possibly why he is dead now.

 

A second Bridgeburner, a man with a pock-marked face, appears and begins to report that there is some mess with the mages losing control. He also hints at a conspiracy happening within their ranks. A few more lines and we get to know of Surly who changed her name to Laseen (which literally means Thronemaster, very metal). It seems that the Emperor is going to have his hands full with this dame.

 

The Napanese Woman

Their conversation then gets interrupted by the arrival of a Napanese woman and her assassin bodyguards.
 

She stood with two bodyguards near the portal in the citadel's square tower. Her dusky blue skin marked her as Napan, but she was otherwise plain, wearing a salt stained grey robe, her mousy hair cut short like a soldier's, her features thin and unmemorable. It was, however, her bodyguards that sent a shiver through Ganoes. They flanked her: tall, swathed in black, hands hidden in sleeves, hoods shadowing their faces. Ganoes had never seen a Claw before, but he instinctively knew these creatures to be acolytes of the cult. Which meant the woman was…

 

She basically arrives to preen her own feathers, despite the first soldier revealing her to be a former serving wench. It seems the two have a rather strained relationship. I’m guessing Lasseen, despite her new title and power, can’t easily dispose of the old veteran (maybe the guy has more influence within the army for his own good and that dealing with him might be too much for her new empire to handle without collapsing into outright anarchy).

 

Merchant’s Son

The last few lines are perhaps very fitting to close the overall feel of this Prologue.

 

'One day I'll be a soldier,' Ganoes said.

The man grunted. 'Only if you fail at all else, son. Taking up the sword is the last act of desperate men. Mark my words and find yourself a more worthy dream.'

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A very cynical view of soldiery which I think is very refreshing and often overlooked in fantasy fiction. If you think about it, why would anyone in their right minds want to engage themselves in such a profession that puts their lives at risk. In the real world, there are a few good reasons why anyone would want to seriously think about enlisting. One is that the pay is good and, often times, other options of making a decent living is beyond one’s skill set, training, or experience. Another good reason is patriotism and the desire to protect one’s own in times of war. Lastly, soldiery is seen as a test to one’s physical abilities and endurance to validate one’s self through feats that would garner him/her great honor and glory.

 

For Ganoes, a son of a merchant, and from the way he is portrayed in this scene, his family is well of which means that money is not a strong motive for him. Neither is patriotism the reason which allures him to soldiery since he never once mentions anthing that may be construed as a desire to help his country or fellow citizens. This is perhaps because he is part of the upper-class and, thus, his society is well sheltered from the travesties that may be more apparent to those members in poorer communities. Which leads us to what ultimately drives his character to want to become a soldier: glory.

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This, is of course, is nothing new in this genre of fiction. When we look as far back as Tolkien’s “The Hobbit: There and Back Again”, what finally drives Bilbo to follow Thorin is the sense of adventure and up-ending the expectations that the other races have for Hobbits who most likely always wanted to keep to themselves and enjoy life in the moment. The same goes for Frodo in the Lord of the Rings Trilogy and many more classic characters in speculative fiction. What makes these character’s motivations deep and believable though is that, through the course of their adventuring and glory-seeking, we find that their motives evolve to something much more than personal gain. This is especially important since the dangers they face increase as their journey’s progresses. In the end, when all is said and done and the story raises the stakes, we find that the reason why they would risk their lives to endure great hardships and grave dangers is simply because they have no choice.

 

Which is why I felt myself disconnect a little from Ganoes in this scene. His naivete to becoming a soldier is very quixotic in that his reasoning is shallow. But, of course, this can be attributed to him being very young and leading a very sheltered life as part of the merchant class. Eventually, this “shallowness” of Ganoe’s motivations to become a soldier is what makes the veteran’s reply more profound to the reader. In a way, this can also be read as a criticism to traditional fantasy where this trope is over used despite its ineffectiveness in many stories.

Even a boy, Commander, can make a point---albeit a misguided one at that.

 

Final Thoughts

That said, this is a very strong prologue in that it accomplishes what it should do such as introduce us to a world thousands of years old and is steeped in history of empires rising and falling, showing us characters living in such a moment and giving us more insights to their life through their actions, behavior, and thoughts, and, through both character and setting, revealing to us the over all tone of the story and cluing us in on what to expect in the next chapters as the story progresses.

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It is also interesting to note that the story is introduced to us at a point in their history when a major power shift is occuring. It is as if that the author is telling us that even though we are not present in the thousands of years that the story does not take place (note that it says that time, at least in this universe, has been recorded for at least 1,164 years), what insights we can get from the past is not more important than that we can learn in the present. A new dawn of the empire is rising as the old one sets in the fast approaching twilight. It is also worth noting that this theme is shown in the characters of Ganoes and the old veteran as well. The future is in the hands of the youth, as they say, and despite the words of warning from the veteran, there is nothing he can do to stop the change that their world will undergo as the young shape their world to their design.

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I have a lot of high expectations going into this series and I am pleased to say that I am very excited for what is to come.