Forge of Darkness (The Kharkanas Trilogy #1)

by Steven Erikson

‘Laws decide which forms of oppression are allowed, Lord. And because of that, those laws are servants to those in power, for whom oppression is given as a right over those who have little or no power. Now, shall we return to art, Lord? When stripped down to its bones, criticism is a form of oppression. Its intent is to manipulate both artist and audience, by imposing rules on aesthetic appreciation. Curiously, its first task is to belittle the views of those who appreciate a certain work but are unable or unwilling to articulate their reasons for doing so. On occasion, of course, one of those viewers rises to the bait, taking umbrage at being dismissed as being ignorant, at which point critics en masse descend to annihilate the fool. No more than defending one’s own precious nest, one presumes. But on another level, it is the act of those in power in protecting their interests, those interests being nothing less than absolute oppression through the control of personal taste.’

Easily my favorite passage in the early part of the book, this is a fascinating take on the familiar themes of power and its exercise to control a population.

The world was not infinite, and yet a population could aspire to become so; it could (and would) expand well beyond its own limits of sustainability, and would continue to do so until it collapsed. There was, he said, nothing so deadly as success.

The second in what will doubtless turn out to be a series of significant forms of social commentary. Not so much on any society in particular, but on the nature of societies as a whole. It's fairly evident that none of the races in this universe have moved into a post-scarcity mindset.

There was, in his mind, no truer measure of stupidity than to imagine that the world could be reduced to two sides, one facing the other with fangs bared, brandishing weapons and hurling hate at the enemy. Things were never so simple.

This feels like a distillation of the theme behind the entire Malayan series — every character and every cause represents a shade of grey in a continuum without clear end points. Everyone's goals are justified from their own perspective, and everyone's means are suspect from some other valid point of view.