Grief.
“Survivors do not mourn together. They each mourn alone, even when in the same place. Grief is the most solitary of all feelings. Grief isolates, and every ritual, every gesture, every embrace, is a hopeless effort to break through that isolation. None of it works. The forms crumble and dissolve. To face death is to stand alone.”
If I was compelled to do a one-word review about Book #8 in ‘Malazan Book of the Fallen’, ‘Toll the Hounds’, that is the word I would use.
Grief.
I believe it is a very apt word to describe the mood of the book, and my own personal feelings after reading this installment in Steven Erikson’s iconic epic fantasy series.
And once you read the book, you will also understand the implicit meaning of that word, in how it specifically relates to this particular novel.
“The soul knows no greater anguish than to take a breath that begins with love and ends with grief.”
Like every book in this series, there is never one main POV, or one main setting. But the Tiste Andii refuge of Black Coral takes centre stage for a good part of the book’s narrative.
Black Coral, sheathed in eternal darkness, is ruled over by Anomander Rake, former lord of the floating skykeep Moon’s Spawn, who we are first introduced to in Book #1, ‘Gardens of the Moon’.
But all is not well in Black Coral. A new cult has arisen in its environs, the cult of the ‘Redeemer’. Yet that cult is already is in danger of being corrupted by a new god on the scene.
“People don’t change to suit their god; they change their god to suit them.”
That issue, and other brewing calamities, are enough to concern Rake that a great storm is coming.
And while extremely troubled, Rake is never one not to act, when action is called for.
He will not merely step into the eye of the storm, he will BE the storm.
Rake is ready to swing the fell sword Dragnipur once more, and that is cause for anyone in Rake’s path to tremble with fear.
Meanwhile, Rake’s son Nimander, along with his companions, are returning to his father. But along the way they encounter a pursued and downtrodden god, famous for his atrocities and duplicity, who is journeying to fulfill what he believes is his destiny.
In addition to all this, it seems some of those who survived amongst the famed Bridgeburners are not permitted to enjoy a proper retirement, by running a popular tavern. People want to kill them.
But the Bridgeburners are not ones to be easily killed. Whomever seeks their death, had better be prepared to face the Bridgeburners’ wrath.
And finally, characters like Cutter reunite with old friends; ones like Mappo and Gruntle continue to seek out Icarium; and Karsa Orlong and Samar Dev meet the mysterious Traveller, who seems to be a match even for the giant Treblor.
I also have to mention the prologue of ‘Toll the Hounds’, where the reader at first may feel confused what plane of existence is being discussed. But soon we come to understand there are four distinct places and locations.
One of them is the realm that is housed within Dragnipur, where the dead reside, and souls are condemned in a kind of purgatory, obliged to pull a large wagon. I can’t say more about this realm to avoid spoilers. Suffice to say, there is huge trouble on the horizon here.
We also have a scene were two dead people see a conference between powerful characters.
A third scene involves two girls who see a dog leave their village, and they pursue the dog. These two girls are the children of a main character, whom may not even know about their existence.
Finally, another one of my favourite characters, Kruppe, is back, in a scene that appears to be in a dream. Dance Kruppe, dance!
All of this sets the stage for an cataclysmic ending to the novel, where I was left shaken to the core.
Everything will come to a head, in the city of Blue Fire, Darujhistan, last of the Free Cities on the continent of Genabackis, whose underworld features the Guild of Assassins.
And where, at the celebration that occurs on the first day of spring, the Gedderone Fête, the streets will run red with blood.
“And this was a night like any other, a skein of expectations and anticipations, revelations and perturbations. Look around. Look around! On all sides, day and night, light and dark! Every step taken with the firm resolve to believe in the solid ground awaiting it. Every step, one after another, again and again, and no perilous ledge yawns ahead, oh no. Step and step, now, step and step.”
I mentioned this book is all about grief. This is consistent when it comes to the mindsets most of characters find themselves in this book. Regret is also another factor here.
It is all very weighty, as the players seem to be filled with grief and remorse for past actions, lost loves, dead friends and family, bitter conflicts with enemies, wanting for different outcomes, failed ambitions, unfulfilled plans, time running out, etc.
Naturally, I could go on for pages about the other characters in this book, as there are so many. But let’s be clear: this is Rake’s novel.
The long-lived, enigmatic and wholly charismatic Rake, perhaps my second favourite character in the series, whom I have seen little of up to this point, with the series almost concluding, is downright brooding, arguably depressed.
Yet, is it is through his brief, despondent, eloquent ruminations, as he surveys his realm from his lofty obsidian tower, his interactions with those he cares about, fraught with foreboding, that we truly come to appreciate how great a creature he is, as a ruler, and a moral being.
We see him through the eyes of others, who worship him, how high he is in their esteem, and the reader can’t help but fall under his spell too. Even the enemies who hate him most, seem powerless to not ultimately respect him as much as they loathe him.
We get hundreds of pages in this novel, with others discussing or thinking about Rake.
After reading it all, my assessment is this: name your favourite fantasy characters who are deemed to be great leaders – Aragorn, Derfel, Captain America or Kirk, etc. – you will come to realize Rake too, is an incredible leader, who others will follow to whatever end.
You can feel the immense weight Rake carries on his very broad shoulders, the burden of whom he leads, but this lord is up to the challenge, and then some.
“With familiar ease he slid the weapon into the scabbard on his back. He faced Endest and smiled as if the burden he had just accepted yet again could not drive others to their knees – gods, ascendants, the proud and the arrogant, all to their knees. Rake’s legs did not buckle, did not even so much as tremble. He stood tall, unbowed, and in the smile he offered Endest Silann there was a certainty of purpose, so silent, so indomitable, so utterly appalling that Endest felt his heart clench, as if moments from rupturing.”
But here, I must also mention another one of my overall favourite characters in the series, Kruppe. Thank the gods for Kruppe, and pastries.
Kruppe is perhaps the most unique character in the series. Amidst all the soldiers, heroes, and gods, his eloquence and grace, in the form a rotund, beatific cherub, who is so much more than he seems, who provides not just comic relief, but common sense and wisdom, in the face of all the tragedy, is always welcome.
This book feels VERY heavy in tone, as I noted. Still, I have to acknowledge some absolutely hilarious, bizarrely funny moments, where Erikson just makes the reader outright laugh, with the zanier things. A horsefly, even an ox get their perspectives in this book; the banter between the Malazans is always good for as much humour as pathos; and Karsa’s one-liners will never grow old.
With amazing symmetry, and heavy foreshadowing leading to such an explosive ending, where the confluence of major characters and events meet in Darujhistan, on the most significant single day of the series so far, the reader will be left shocked, dazed, reeling, weeping, and will continue to see why this series is entitled ‘Book of the Fallen’.
“He was a man who would never ask for sympathy. He was a man who sought only to do what was right. Such people appear in the world, every world, now and then, like a single refrain of some blessed song, a fragment caught on the spur of an otherwise raging cacophony. Imagine a world without such souls. Yes, it should have been harder to do.”
Earth-shattering, tragic, stupendous, ‘Toll the Hounds’ is yet another incredible entry that helps makes ‘Malazan’ a signal entry in the field of epic fantasy.
Trust me, the slower first two-thirds of the book are there for a reason, and will only make the ending more poignant, more satisfying.
Farewell, SOD. I mourn for thee.
I dry my tears, and move onto ‘Dust of Dreams’.
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