Posted 12 May 2005 - 05:25 AM
That was a great read. Sure, it was expensive, but there's no way I could have taken missing out on this book (unlike Erikson's novellas, which I think you can skip quite happily if you want).
I think Osserc was only mentioned because his power is "fire" if you like, vs the ice of the stormriders. I don't mean in comparison to the Tayschrenn as he also uses a type of "fire" warren if I recall correctly, but rather to the person who thought he said it because Osserc is perhaps the most powerful mage.
I don't think Agayla is Jhess (not that I'm sure who that is, but the way you guys talk about her makes her seem like an ascendent) as from Tay's perspective we see:
"Tayschrenn damned the sorceress-she and all others aligned with the Enchantress-their eyes saw everywhere"
So it seems she has a patron, this Enchantress. Who is she though? The Queen of Dreams? Seeing everywhere seems to fit in well with the her the time we see her, as she saw things in her pool or whatever it was. Or maybe she's been mentioned elsewhere and I'm just showing my ignorance. I believe Agayla used Thyr at one point, so maybe that'll help identify the Enchantress, though seeing as Tayschreen also used Thyr despite Tellan (or is it Telas?) seemingly being his main warren, plus mnay, many other sshowing the ability to access multiple warrens, maybe makes that point useless.
The stormriders bothered me too for a while, they just didn't seem to fit in with the world we'd seen before. But then when their origins were revealed, I was much happier. Reminds me of the Crippled God.
Did we know Tayschreen used to serve D'rek, the Worm of Autumn, before whoever he serves now? Or maybe he serves no one now but the Empire. Anyway, he mentions D'rek as his "old master", and seems to even have stood before him in some form. Which I guess is no surprise given his power.
I too don't really understand what happened with the Deadhouse's Guardian. Jhenna is gone, that's pretty much certain, and Temper agreed to take her place and seemed to think he had no way of getting out of it...yet once everything was over, he just went back to Mock's Hold! Can you be a Guardian and walk around freely? Besides, not that long later we see Gothos as the Guardian. But we know he'd been in the Azath's service a long, long time, way back when Icarium tried to free him (though he didn't want to be freed) and possibly shattered Kurald Emurlahn. Did he switch houses when the Deadhouse was left without a Guardian? We know he wants the solitude the Azath provides, perhaps the Azath knows that too and let him move to another, unlike Guardians held against their will.
Oh and I'd also like to know if Jhenna was there when Kellanved and the rest occupied the building. Maybe she stood to the side under orders or some sort of compulsion from the Azath, and just hadn't been menitoned in the books yet. Or maybe she somehow stayed out of the way or hidden all that time.
I wonder if Shadowthrone truly doesn't know about whatever Edgewalker was talking about at the end, or if he does and doesn't care that he can't truly have the Throne of Shadow (as seems to be the case), as he and Cotillion have much more ambitious plans if hints are to be believed, and heading Shadowhouse is just a stepping stone. I guess the last person/thing to think they took the throne was a long, long time ago, as surely if it wasn't the House of Shadows would have kept appearing and disappearing in the Deck of Dragons and people wouldn't have expressed such surprise at the new house when Shadowthrone took over. Must have been before they could even remember.
The old man in the boat was interesting. Agayla says the paths to Ascendency are far more varied than Tay imagines when talking of him, so I guess that's a pretty major hint that he was an Ascendant. I'm not sure he'll even come up again though. I almost felt he was just a good, interesting side story to show that very thing (that there are lots of ways to ascend).
Did Dancer have access to a warren? I always thought he didn't for some reason and only gained "magical" abilities once he ascended. Then I thought he demonstrated it in NoK, only for it to turn out to be Kellanved projecting him, a favoured trick apparently. So I guess I'm wondering if there is evidence for or against in other books.
I thought it was very amusing how Dancer got into the Deadhouse as fast as he could, but Kellanved stayed cool and looked around first. I'm not sure if that's a sign of his arrogance, insanity or a mixture of both, but it was good.
I think that's all I have right now, and it's plenty.
I wanted to shout Noooo.....! don't do this.
Imperial Historian 
Help
