Read the previous entry in the series here.
Read the next entry in the series soon.

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The first chapter of Forest Mage, “Forest Dreams,” begins with Nevare dreaming intimately of Tree Woman. He is shaken awake by Trist, and Nevare contrasts his present state with how he had been prior to the Dust Dance and plague while Trist relates one of his recurring dreams. Trist bemoans his weakened state and withdraws, leaving Nevare to consider the death of Tree Woman and the situation in which he and the other cadets at the King’s Cavalla Academy find themselves in the wake of the plague.

Nevare considers both his resistance to the Specks’ attempt to destroy Gernian society and his complicity in the attempt as he reflects on the events of his life. His recollection of the time with Dewara and the trip into the liminal realm where he first encountered Tree Woman receives attention, as well as his alternate self that had been formed at that point. The unification of the corps of cadets in the wake of the plague receives comment, and the fates of the survivors of Nevare’s original cohort are reported. Rory, promoted, is his closest present friend. Kort mourns his longtime friend Nate. Gord, married hastily during the plague, shows and even more powerful intellect than Nevare had thought he possessed. Spink and Epiny both write to Nevare, faring well but differently than either had anticipated.

Changes to classes and instruction are noted, with senior cadets taking over teaching roles to mixed effect. Nevare attends carefully to the lessons in military history, as they begin to treat the Plainsfolk, and one of his fellow cadets, Lofert, asks after the so-called Preservationist movement in Gernia; his queries are answered with patronizing commonplaces. Nevare reflects on the passing of the Plainsfolk’s ways of life, recalling events along his initial trip to Old Thares. The use of iron against magic is noted again, and Nevare muses on what has been gained for all the losses incurred.

Following morning classes, Nevare reads more of a letter from Epiny about the affairs at Spink’s family’s holdings at Bitter Springs until Rory delivers a semi-formal summons from Dr. Amicas in the campus infirmary. Nevare hastens thereto, passing by the mass grave of the plague victims and the marker erected in their honor. When he reports to the physician, he receives a small rebuke before submitting to a repeated examination. Amicas remarks upon Nevare’s increased weight, noting how unusual it is to see among plague victims, before conferring with Nevare about the cadet’s upcoming travel and theories about the origin of the plague.

After leaving the infirmary, Nevare finds himself considering Tree Woman again, contrasting his early impressions of her with his recent dreams. Nevare’s alternate self still manifests at times, and he tries to accommodate the viewpoints he has come to hold. Despite his growing weight, he makes good time and arrives at his dormitory’s study in good wind. Rory notes another letter has arrived for Nevare, this one from Duril, and Nevare reads it with some interest. He also looks forward to rejoining Carsina at his brother’s wedding, and he is taken by longing to return to his home, as well as joy at the prospect.

To address the chapter-length issue: the present chapter, in the edition of the novel I’m rereading, runs 26 pages in length, approximately 3.62% of the novel, larger than average. Given that the present chapter is doing the kind of explication a sequel has to do–glossing many to all of the events of the previous novel and setting up the present–the length is not to be wondered at, unless perhaps to wonder why it is not longer than it actually is. (That said, it is one of the longer chapters in the novel; only six are longer, of which most are only two pages longer, and the longest only five pages longer.)

Also, for indexing purposes, the following: Barrier Mountains, Battle of Pukenshit, Bitter Springs, Bringham House, Burvelle’s Landing, Cadet Lieutenant Bailey, Cadet Sergeant Vredo, Captain Maw, Carneston Hall, Carsina Grenalter, Cilima Lading, Colonel Rebin, Dark Evening, Dewara, Dr. Amicas, Dust Dance, Elisi Burvelle, Epiny Kester (née Burvelle), Gera Kester, Gernia, Gord Lading, Keft Burvelle, Kidona, King Troven, King’s Cavalla Academy, Kort Braxan, Lady Kester, Landsing, Lofert, Midlands, Natred Verlaney, Nevare Burvelle, Old Thares, Plainsfolk, Plague, Preservationists, Rory Hart, Rosse Burvelle, Sefert Burvelle, Sergeant Erib Duril, Sirlofty, Sorton, Specks, Spinrek “Spink” Kester, Tobacco, Tree Woman, Trist Wissom, Wind wizard, Yaril Burvelle.* As might be expected from a heavily-explicative chapter, there are a lot of points of reference to make.

As might also be expected, contrasting the current first chapter with the previous first chapter, Shaman’s Crossing‘s “Magic and Iron,” suggests itself. (That there will be a number of such backward looks is exceedingly likely.) A number of points made, or at least gestured towards, in the earlier piece are reiterated or glossed in the present chapter, not least the negative effects of iron on the magic of the Plainsfolk, the patronizingly colonialist attitudes at work in Gernia,** and the Gernian revulsion towards miscegenation. Again, it is part of the task of an opening of a sequel to remind readers of the previous volume/s of what has happened, as well as to provide enough information for a new reader, stumbling into a series as it is in progress, to be oriented to major events and features of the milieu. (I comment to that effect when addressing the beginning of Mad Ship, as well as early in my remarks about Fool’s Errand, and again in notes made at the start of Fool’s Quest, and once again in treating an early part of Assassin’s Fate. It’s not a surprise that an author would return to an established pattern.) Here, as elsewhere in Hobb’s body of work, she handles the gloss well.

I’ll note the present chapter’s invocation of an old adage: Men but work from sun to sun, woman’s work is never done (13). It’s an old saw, one I remember hearing no few times from my mother and her mother, although given the kind of hours my dad put in doing HVAC work in Texas Hill Country summers, it was a little tongue-in-cheek. (Mom’s mom lived with us for much of my growing up, and she lived in my mother’s house when she died. I’ve written a little about it.) I’m told that it pops up notably in Jean Little’s Orphan at My Door, but given the relatively late publication date of that novel (2001), I doubt it is a source for Hobb’s own work. I do not doubt, however, that it speaks to the protofeminist parallel that Epiny is (see “Séance” in Shaman’s Crossing for more on this); if Gernian women are held to be less, then it makes little sense that they should do more.†

One other small note suggests itself: Lofert makes mention of a Preservationist movement in Gernia, the description of which echoes somewhat the land-back movements that are and have been at work in the United States (and presumably elsewhere, but I have not followed any outside the US). Given the publication and presumed composition of the Soldier Son novels after the Tawny Man, and the Tawny Man novels’ effective use of such groups as the Piebalds, I have to wonder (because although I have read Forest Mage, it has been a while) about such a group’s intervention in affairs, moving forward. If it does factor in, that’s all fine and good; it’s certainly being foregrounded here, and it was gestured towards at least as early as Shaman’s Crossing‘s “Old Thares.” And if it does not, the recognition of things in the world but not present in the primary narrative is a contribution towards the verisimilitude that Hobb, again, is on record as prizing; Chekhov isn’t neccessarily correct, or at least interpretations of him aren’t.

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* I’ll note that a few names, notably Cilima’s and Epiny’s, are changed from the characters’ earlier appearances (see Shaman’s Crossing‘s “Cousin Epiny” for an example); I give them as they are at present. Others needing updating (such as Sergeant Duril), I’ve updated per previous practice.

** Interestingly, Gernia appears to apply this logic towards itself. As Lofert asks his interim military history instructor about the Plainsfolk, he is answered with the following (12):

“That our superior civilization replaces the primitive order of the Plainsmen is a part of the natural order,” he lectured. “And lest you feel too superior, be mindful that we Gernians have been victims of advanced technology ourselves. When Landsing made their discovery that allowed their cannon and long guns to shoot farther and more accurately than ours, thwy were able to defeat us and take from us our seacoast provinces. Much as we resent that, it was natural thn once they had achieved a military technology that was superior to our own, they would take what they wished from us”

While the kind of might-makes-right ideology being espoused remains repugnant, that it is applied to the same people applying it to others is a bit of nuance that is, honestly, typical of Hobb; she uses and alters prevailing tropes throughout her body of work, as I’ve commented (see “Shades of Steel-Gray” and “Manifestations of English Arthurian Legend in the Farseer and Tawny Man Trilogies”, among others).

† I note, too, that the passage in which Epiny makes the quip reminds me of remarks by Judith Lanzendorfer in “Reader, Take Thy Adventure” at the 2010 International Congress on Medieval Studies, as well as Joyce Coleman’s Public Reading and the Reading Public in Late Medieval England and France and “Interactive Parchment: The Theory and Practice of Medieval English Aurality.” Why make notes you never look at again?

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