Malazan Ascendancy – Gardens of the Moon Reread: Chapter 1, part 2
Continuing the re-read of the first chapter that I posted last week. This post will cover the introduction of Lorn and her meeting the now grown Ganoes Paran, who we first met in the prologue, who we know was 12 back then. This takes place 7 years later (1161st Year of Burn’s Sleep,103rd Year of the Malazan Empire, 7th Year of Empress Laseen’s Rule). I was talking to Elena, our editor (my Adjunct, if you will) over at BSC about Gardens of the Moon and the series in general, and what I mentioned was my appreciation of how Erikson utilizes female characters in his world (she hasn’t said anything since, so she may have hated the book!). There are a number of authors that feature female characters in novels or series’ and some of them with great precision, but many make me feel like that they are more aware of their own utility of that element than I want to feel. The same applies to race (which we will get into later), where you feel that part of what the author wants you to appreciate about their work is the actual usage. As I told her, I never felt that the story was aware of its own the heavy use of female and racially diverse characters, and proof of this is that I found myself – whom I consider a major fan of the series – unable to list with authority what characters were not “white” when asked. When you do, it may surprise you. With Erikson, it’s just the way it is. A character would not be aware of their race in how they affect a fictional story being read in another world, but so often this third wall will – for me – be intrusively leaned on, and with Erikson I get none of that. I get people use to living around people, and in the world they live in.
* please note that this feature will subject you to massive spoilers from later in the book and BEYOND it. This is not a clean-slate walkthrough, but rather the experiences of a reader who has read all of the books published to date who may not at all be sympathetic to your own spoiler policy and/or preferences.
Laseen, and by extension Lorn– who we meet here – doesn’t have to explain her authority. As Adjunct to the Empress, Lorn is a badass. We know this by how she carries herself in these few pages, which goes back to a bit I wrote in my last re-read portion about our (the reader’s) less valued participation. Neither have anything to prove to us, and neither is described as physically old as if power was inherited. They took it. We know that Laseen took power, and in this chapter her adjunct – a position that we are told is the extension of the Laseen’s will – is described as young and dangerous. The nobility, the traditionally privileged or destined in fantasy, are actually the subject of hard times, constantly having to reestablish and survive from those who are harder. Those who take. We learn later that Laseen perhaps knows this lesson more than most.
We meet Ganoes again and our impression of him is that he’s made himself a competent soldier even if set up for a cushy commission in the near future. He also seems on his way to learning some of the realities Whiskeyjack tried to impart of him in on the prologue, yet taking them well. Out of all the characters, Ganoes is the one in this project that I really want to pay particular attention to for a couple of reasons, both of which have a lot to with expectations some may think fundamental to epic fantasy reading. One, he is as close to a central character we will find in this book. In an odd way, even though he is totally absent in some future books, he probably remains as close as we will get to a classic identifiable character mold for this series. He seems to clearly be the character that we are set up to see learn as they go. His mystery in some way becomes our own as we stumble and learn from him until he gets to a point where he becomes like those I mentioned above–too smart to give away what he may know. There is another character like this, and the two end up meeting later in the series in a rather intriguing liaison. Second, the prologue kind of establishes this role in some way. Paran is the young dreamer looking for adventure, in his own words he wants to be “a hero”.
‘Since when is speaking the truth presumptuous?’
‘You are young, aren’t you?’
-Adjunct Lorn replying to Ganoes Paran
Ganoes definitely goes on a journey and it’s interesting to go back to his meeting with Lorn and see where it all really began. I find that I also “like” both of the characters, even when both are presented drastically different. One is essentially the second in command of the Empire and at least alluded to as a mage killer. The other is a semi-green nobleman who chose to be a soldier. Ganoes is out of his depth, but he knows it. He’s neither rendered as extravagantly ignorant or incompetent. He has questions, he asks them, and more importantly, asks the right ones. If you get the chance to do a re-read, I recommend taking notice of those instances throughout the series. He’s literally the damn question master, the type of which if stranded on an island via plane crash would have been the guy who would have figured out the mystery of the island, smokey, and Dharma in 2 seasons because of it! Of course this”type” of character is very convenient, as via Paran we learn what veterans already know, but would never really have to ever share openly without his presence. Erikson will make him a very active participant (and target) making his gained knowledge not seem like an info dump for the reader.
This bit is also a powercheck. We know that the beasts from the previous part of the chapter effectively wiped out 100s of armed soldiers, leaving no survivors and no trace of their own casualties or even injuries. We also get more hints at how magic is implemented, at least as it relates to the Adjunct herself:
I am anathema to sorcery. That means, Lieutenant, that, even though I’m not a practitioner, I have a relationship with magic. Of sorts. We know each other, if you will. I know the patterns of sorcery, and I know the patterns of the minds that use it.
A lot of fantasy effectively takes the magic out of magic. Having rules is not an issue, it is the widespread knowledge of every facet or that fact there is but a single facet that often is. To put this in perspective it would be like having several individuals who are masters of every facet of science. It’s literally impossible and we (rightly) attribute the tag of “genius” on those who are much less learned or proficient. While Erikson certainly allows for specialists to the extreme, even those who have mastery of several aspects, there is no ultimate understanding. There is no magic book that tells all (except one that is very aptly named). Erikson’s magic system is both my favorite and the most ambitious I’ve read, and I think it is so because it is individual. When you see magic utilized or talked about it is something very different depending on the source you are watching or hearing it from. Like science, there are different theories and applications, and unlike our world there is no live and instant shared pool of knowledge on the subject that we’ve been confronted with (outside of the possibility of cults). Warrens are awesome, but they don’t come with a message board. Erikson will later tell us the lengths that some have gone to even begin to map out facts about magic. The statement above by Lorn an acknowledgment to the idea of personal experience being the law. Essentially, it’s “I know what I know because I know it.” Makes a lot of sense.
The next part of the chapter has one of the real fun elements that Erikson adds for the diehard readers, so I can’t wait to get to it…
About Jay Tomio: 
Recent Comments