Malazan Empire: T77 - Viewing Profile - Malazan Empire

Though short, BotW is one of the best books Tad has written. It's tight, simple, and yet evocative and endlessly emotional. It gives such a deeper depth to not only Hakatri (who we knew next to nothing about), but more interestingly Ineluki back when he was a decent, if brash and impetuous Sithi youth. Little aspects of it like seeing Likimeya (Pre-Dragon blood injury of her father) as a precocious kid are juxtaposed against the latter one who doesn't recognize him, and thinks that the burned Hakatri is not her father...fucking heartbreaking. Watching Ineluki develop his hatred of mortals is fascinating, because it is well known that dragons of ANY kind instill a fear in all beings, and to humans especially....so the confluence of events where their mortal leader's horse falls into a hole and throws him off causing them to (in the face of said rampaging dragon) abandon the plan, and run from the scene, which in turn causes Hakatri to take up the huge tree spear himself to impale the thing, causing his injuries that haunt him for the rest of the book (and his life)...and Ineluki has everything he needs to hate humanity/mortals, right? Perhaps...but the other layer (that even Ineluki is aware of) is that all of this occurs because Ineluki's rash decision to swear an oath to the humans that he will take out this Worm for them, so one might say that if he hadn't done that, then none of them would have been in that situation to begin with. So it's super interesting to see that from there all it takes is a push and nudge from the (at the time still friendly) Hideka'ya to send the Storm King on the path he ends up on towards the events of MS&T, and his eventual demise.

I also LOVE the pov character for the story being a Tinukeda'ya as it adds yet another political layer to things, since Pamon Kes is very much an outsider with insider info. Directly speaking with the Sa'onsera (Who was still Amerasu Shipborn at that time) multiple times showed you how important he was...while still showing you that many Sithi just consider him a slave race. You can feel his eventual post-script life with Lady Sholi at Ravensperch coming, but it's still nice when it's confirmed.

The last thing I'll comment on is the final scene on the ship before Kes is sept overboard by fate or storm (another heartbreaking scene)...makes me wonder about the Hakatri interludes in INTO THE NARROWDARK, which seems to show him as awake in the armour (Ruyan's Navigator armour) and wondering why....but also the scene from Sesuadr'a (the Stone of farewell) from BotW seems to imply that there's a reason Hakatri will be needed and it FEELS benevolent there....but in the interludes in ITN it feels more nefarious? I could be wrong...but the last time we see Hakatri is sailing on that ship with one of the finest Captains to ever sail a ship, looking to find the West and perhaps a cure for his maladies....but in ITN he's been dead and we just know he's ben brought back to life by magic....so what's in between?! I'm so curious.

There's that heartbreaking scene near the end of BotW where child Likimeya asks Kes why he's talking to not her father....like she honestly doesn't recognize him through the burns or his actions/feelings, but I think it goes deeper...

so I also want this: Since we know that as of TWC adult Likimeya is severely injured, incapacitated, and in a state of suspended animation...that if we get Hakatri properly showing up again, I want Likimeya to see him when she's awake and look into his eyes and say something like "Oh, there you are father." It would fucking break me, but I want it. I also hope we get Kes since even though Tinukeda'ya are not AS long lived as Sithi or Norns, they are still longer lived than mortals...