GotM: Book Five - The Gadrobi Hills

[Scott]

It was Rake's doing. He basically told Shadowthrone to withdraw the Rope from what was going on or he was going to open up a can of whoop-ass on the Shadow Realm.

Another example of just how powerful Rake is.

[Sky]

But Paran frees the Hounds, no? When he touches their blood, he enters the swords Warren unchained. He calls one of the Twins, sets the Hounds on them, and when they leap for the Twin, who Paran releases and vanishes, and the Hounds disappear into the portal under the cart. Whether that leads to another hell as bad as the one they are in, we don't know.

- More hints that it is the Year of the Gathering for the T'lan Imass (well not so much a hint as stated at the beginning of the book, aligning the time with 1163rd Year of Burn's Sleep (who the heck is Burn?))

- The Empresses plans are laid out - Free the Tyrant, make Anomander use Dragnipur on him, and in the battle weaken him for the Empire to pick off.

- We get the origin story of the Tiste Andii. And that some have embraced the Warren of Starvald Demelain, the home of Dragons

- I didn't quite follow how Quick Ben outsmarted Shadowthrone. Somehow he used The Rope as an intermediary to relay Hairlock's location, and thus avoided being double-crossed?

- Lorn continues to plagued with doubts whether she is an individual or an extension of Laseen's will. She lets The Phoenix Inn Crew live.

- Both Lorn and Tool have doubts about the soundness of the plan to free the Tyrant. Tool offers for Lorn to accompany him on his search for answers (to what?)

- Hairlock dies at the mouths of the Hounds

- Anomander Rake appears before the Hounds can kill Paran. He tells Shadowthrone to withdraw from Darujhistan before he unleashes a can of whoopass on him.

- He gets The Rope to uninhabit Sorry.

- This confrontation was foreseen by Tattersail when she played Deck of Dragons

- Anomander tells Paran that he is no longer under the control of Oponn, but that his sword still can kick ass. He let's Paran leave freely

- I agree with Alex. Anomander seems a stand up ascendant dood. I don't know what his end game is, but in all his dealings he seems reasonable and fair. I cannot say the same of Laseen and the Empire.

- Sorry is back to being the fisherman's daughter. I wonder if the Seer will still exert influence. But the Seers prophecy in the beginning of the book was correct - Look to the darkness, it will free you, or something to that effect. House Shadow has freed her.

- Paran meets an army of Rhivi on the march up to Pale. His sword Chance miraculously stops all the lances throne at him. He also grabs some doods junk.

- He meets the soul-shifted Tattersail, already a child of 5 or 6. He wonders what she has become - a god? ascended? She promises they will meet again soon.

- Paran meets Coll. He tells Coll he's a deserter/ex-noble, and has never been more alive than he is now. We finally hear Coll's full story that has been hinted at up till now. They agree to ride back to Darujhistan together

goooood stuff!

[Sky]

Gah, now I need to figure out who or what burn is.

All i know off the top of my head is
- he/she's been asleep for 1163 years. Hehe.

Why would Malazan use that as a basis for their calendar?

The only mention I recall of someone being asleep is the sleeping goddess the Tyrant talks about awakening.

"Earth and bedrock, the sluggish molten darkness beneath, down, down to find the sleeping goddess - young as far as the Jaghut was concerned. "shall I wake you?" he whispered. "Not yet. But I shall make you bleed""

So if this is Burn, the timeline would fit - she's been asleep 1163 years, making her young by the Tyrant's standards.

Still no clue what role Burn (or the goddess, if they are they same, or both, if not) will play, but since the date is continually mentioned, I assume it will eventually wake in a later book.

[Scott]

@Alex - that kind of reminds me of the Dresden Files with the mantles of winter and summer. And yeah Lorn's struggles with herself and being the Adjunct was interesting

[Kat]

Alex wrote: "...remember that:

Malazan Empire threw all their mages at Rake and he won.

Quick Ben released a demon that could easily demolish Darujhistan and Rake took care of that in a matter of minutes, if not seconds."

I keep saying he rocks! *fangirl squeal*

Also, I like Tattersail. She's with the Rhivi now, who are aligned with Brood, who in turn is in cahoots with Rake.

Still rooting for Rake. Everyone else can go to hell as far as I'm concerned.

:-)

[Peter]

It took me awhile to figure out who I actually cared about but I'm with you Kat. Rake is awesome. (:

[TS]

I love Rake's appearance at the Fete. His nonchalance in spite of impressive presence is so awesome. Rake is one of my favourite characters in the Malazan series so far (I've finished MoI and believe me you'll love him even more!). Enigmatic, badass powerful, but yet there is compassion in him. And that dude really knows how to make an entrance.

From various discussion threads and reviews that there are some readers who did not really like Paran, but for some reason, I really do even at the beginning of the book.