Author: Steven Erikson
Cover Artist: Steve Stone
Publisher: Bantam
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Publication Date: 2008
The seventh book in Erikson’s Malazan series. Although quite a few of our regular reviewers like Erikson this hasn’t resulted in a lot of reviews of his books. I suspect the reason for that is because they are a pain to review. At least I think they are. The sheer size of his novels (some 1260 pages in my mass market paperback of Reaper’s Gale) make reading Erikson a time-consuming hobby. He also employs a huge cast of characters and has the habit of dropping the reader right into the action with fairly little background information. Writing a summary of this book is a challenge. His books make for an fascinating and challenging read however, so it is time to stop making excuses and start writing a some reviews. I hear Jay has one in the works as well.
In the previous six books in the series the story lines and characters have been spread out over several continents. Now many of the characters are converging on the Letherii Empire, an empire beset on all sides by it’s enemies. In Midnight Tides, book five of the series, we witness the rise to power of the Triste Edur emperor Rhulad Sengar. Possessed by the Crippled God Rhulad has died a thousand deaths over the last couple of years, only to be resurrected again. This has not improved his mental condition, which was already bordering on insanity at the end of book five. Rhulad’s armies are searching the world of new and ever stronger challengers to face the emperor. A fleet with the latest group of challengers, the formidable Karsa Orlong and the equally dangerous Icarium among them.
The Edur empire is now in serious trouble but Rhulad is carefully shielded from the world by his Letherii administrators. Even the Edur are kept away from him. Although the Edur rule the empire in name, much of the real power lies with the Letherii administration and they are happy to let the Edur think they are in charge. Tensions between the Letherii and the Edur are growing when it becomes clear the Letherii are keeping the Edur away from their emperor.
Several other developments threaten the empire as well. Economic genius Tehol Beddict and his servant Bugg are trying to undermine the Letheri economy by removing as much gold from circulation as they can. On the borders of the empire the warlord Redmask is stirring among the Awl people and there are rumours of unrest in the eastern kingdoms. A Malazan army under the command of Tavore Paran is staging an invasion of the continent. As usual the gods also have quite an influence on events. Errant, Mael, the Crippled God, Shadowthorn and Cotillion and several soletaken try to influence events. When all these parties clash the outcome is catastrophic.
This synopsis doesn’t even begin to cover everything that happens in the novel. Erikson’s work is epic in every sense of the world. Some people will think this book as slow moving as the glaciers of Omtose Phellack. Once you have the various storylines more or less sorted out it is a more coherent novel that The Bonehunters (book 6). In that book Erikson spent a lot of time setting up events for the final books in the series. And indeed a lot of things fall into place in Reaper’s Gale.
I will leave the theorizing for the associated thread on the boards but there are a few things that struck me about this novel. The time line of this series covers some three hundred thousand years. While many of the details of what happened during all that time remain vague the author clearly has put a lot of thought to the history of this world. You can see this in countless details. In this book it struck me that the city of Lethras is built like a city in Norman England. Never tearing anything down, just building layer upon layer. It also shows in the way Erikson describes the technological level of the various societies. The T’lan Imass are particularly interesting in that respect. They are something of a contradiction. A society that chose not to develop technology beyond stone-age tools but possessing such a highly developed spiritual life and powerful magic that they are a force the be reckoned with nonetheless. They even go so far as to making themselves immortal, a snapshot from a society hundreds of thousands of years old. Remembering what mortals have forgotten. Quite a contrast from Icarium, who has created machines that are the pinnacle of technological development, but doomed to forget his actions and start over again and again. History repeating?
Erikson again describes a group of pastoral nomads, the Awl, who are being wiped out despite their prowess in battle. If I remember correctly the Malazan empire subjugated several of such tribes during their expansion. Given Erikson’s background as an archaeologist I can only assume the topic interests him. There are various theories on how for instance the Mongol Empire was able to pose such a formidable military threat to the more ‘civilized’ empires surrounding them, but also why their way of life is ultimately unable to sustain such an empire without adopting the practices of the subjugated peoples. This is what happens to the Edur as well in a way. Their society is seems to have regressed to a hunter-gatherer like tribal structure. The Letherii eagerly make use of their backward ways. The book even contains a warning of what will happen when one tries to settle the steppes and farm them. Pastoralism is a complex and very dynamic way of managing the environment. While farming usually quickly leads to depletion and erosion of the top soil, pastoralism is much more sustainable if one manages to prevent overgrazing (search for the tragedy of the commons if the topic interests you).
Another interesting element in the story is Erikson’s criticism of capitalism, in particular the myth of perpetual growth. Tehol and Bugg intentionally create a bubble, a construction company that floats on loans and more loans to pay of earlier loans. They are able to withdraw huge amounts of gold from Letherii society making it impossible for anybody to actually collect on the outstanding loans. When Tehol’s company collapses the under the weight of all those debts a chain reaction follows and financial chaos is the result. Erikson uses this theme as well in Midnight Tides but in this book Tehol and Bugg are brilliant. Especially the scene where Bugg explains things to this lawyer and the poor man finally understands what’s happening is hilarious.
The Malazans fight another brilliant campaign in Reaper’s Gale. I am not quite sure I understand the motivation of the army to fight on when they apparently have been cut loose from the empire, but the way they go about is very interesting. Unfortunately Erikson is also a bit long winded on this part of the story. A lot of the rather large cast consists of various squads of the Malazan army.The campaign itself is interesting, especially once the trap laid by the Letherii is about to close, but I do think this part of the book could do with some editing. I have to admit he made the character Beak stand out though. He’s a very interesting character. Unfortunately the brightest flame burns quickest.
Although it would be nice if Erikson could keep his novels in the three digit range I have to say Reaper’s Gale was a very satisfying read. More so than The Bonehunters. Memories of Ice is still my favourite but Reaper’s Gale does not fall short of that by much. If it wasn’t clear already this book definitely shows the Tales of the Malazan book of the Fallen is going to be a landmark in epic fantasy once the series is completed. And it looks like we won’t have to wait that much longer to find out how the series end. Erikson keeps to a tight schedule of one book a year. It will be a while before I can get my hands on the recently released book eight, Toll of the Hounds, but I look forward to reading it. All in all Reaper’s Gale is a solid entry in the series. It will not disappoint the dedicated Malazan fan.
