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

---

The final full chapter, “The Rain Wild River,” starts with Althea considering the progress of the Paragon as the ship and a small crew continue to work on behalf of the nascent dragons. The crew’s dispersal is noted, as is Amber’s work to further decorate the figurehead in a motif of charging bucks. The two review their progress towards the ancient spawning grounds, including the loss of serpents and the moodiness of the liveship. The serpents’ arrival and cocooning are glossed, and Althea muses on her younger nephew, Selden, whose connection to the dragons is noted, as is Clef’s progress learning to read and write.

The Paragon calls out to be run aground in a clear channel of one of the Rain Wild’s tributaries. The ship notes they are at the site where an older pirate had stashed his largest prize, a treasure ship bound for Jamaillia with annual tribute. The history of the hoard is noted, and it is given to the crew’s claim. Work to retrieve the hoard proceeds, with materials and labors described; Brashen is taken with Althea and begins plotting out with her how they will employ their shares of the take. Brashen considers Althea as he calls a halt to the retrieval efforts against the oncoming evening and storm.

Later, Amber approaches the figurehead with a request for a specific item from the take, a wizardwood crown. The ship remembers the crown, although not in great detail, and Amber appropriates it. The ship guesses that she is soon to leave, which she confirms, noting a need to head north to friends long unseen. The ship also notes how one of the former crews died, as well as that Kennit died twice, saved by the ship–at some cost to Kennit. Amber waxes philosophical, and they part in peace.

Althea dreams badly, and in the dream, the ship visits her, calling her to the foredeck. She arrives there, and the ship demands the hurt that had been caused her–not the memory, which is hers, but the continuing pain of it, which the ship draws from her. She wakes fully on the foredeck, Brashen rushing to her amid the storm and takes her below decks. There, she reports her violation to him and pleads with him for a continued relationship; they reconcile, the effects of which are felt throughout the ship as Amber takes her leave with the ship’s blessing.

It makes sense to some degree, of course, that the lingering narrative thread of Althea’s trauma resolving would receive attention in the final chapter–even if it is something of a deus ex machina at work. From the vantage of re-reading, of course, it makes sense in the broader context; even without that, reading through the Elderlings novels in order of publication offers some clues about the mechanism at work. That, combined with the overt foreshadowing of future work in Amber’s discussions, not only ties up the plot of the Liveship Traders novels, buy integrates them more fully with the other novels in the milieu–it serves a structural function, even if perhaps at the cost of the narrative.

The novel’s not done, of course; there is an eplilogue. And then the reread moves on to the Tawny Man novels, including the last paperback Hobb I’ve bought…

Help me get settled in better?

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

---

The penultimate chapter, “Bingtown,” begins with Ronica and Keffria making ready to receive Serilla, Keffria fretting about the state of their home and the differences of that state from what it had been. Reactions to recent news are noted, and Keffria notes the promises of rebirth and regrowth inherent in the spring emerging around her. Serilla delivers the news she has been given; her formal position with the Satrap is rescinded, harshly, something acknowledged as scapegoating but inevitable. She also dickers with the Vestrit women for a place in their household, offering to assume the formal oversight duties on behalf of the family; Keffria accepts.

I’m struck by the brevity of the chapter; it is one of the shortest in the series, if not the shortest (though I’m not looking back over the series to check, admittedly), and it wraps up the narrative arcs of three major characters. It seems it should be longer–unless there is some comment to be made that the women involved in the chapter–Serilla, Ronica, and Keffria–are being put aside as no longer important. And that may have some justification; Ronica is certainly elderly, and neither Serilla nor Keffria are young, while the promise of future stories does belong to the younger participants in the narrative. So perhaps that is what is at work, here–although I do still tend to feel there’s something of being rushed about this…

Spare a dime? More?

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

---

The ensuing chapter, “Jamaillia City,” opens with Malta musing on the splendor of her assigned chambers and the attentions paid her by servants. The surroundings and ministrations are detailed, as are the changes to Malta’s own appearance. Etta is attended similarly, though the loss of Kennit still hurts her, and she works to comport herself as the queen she is recognized as being. Malta also muses on Etta’s perceptions of Kennit and her own of Reyn, and the promotions of both Etta and Wintrow–the latter by unanimous consent of the captains who had followed Kennit–are noted as Malta and Etta join Wintrow and Reyn, all attired for formal reception.

The group calls upon the Satrap in a hall that is described, along with their locations and relative precedence. Malta’s continuing machinations are glossed, as are the changes to the prevailing state of affairs. The Pirates–with recognition of national sovereignty, the capitalization seems in order–and Traders make to take their leave of the Satrap, and Reyn and Malta confer about their upcoming nuptials and progress in Bingtown and on the Rain Wild River. Talk turns to others’ romances, then to liveships, about which Reyn has some ideas. They dance together, reveling in one another, and Etta and Wintrow confer a bit pettily about the way they do so.

In the harbor, the Ophelia confers with the Vivacia, the two liveships gossiping. Jek joins them, and the ships note the tensions between recalled lives and experienced ones, and the Vivacia recommits to her current life.

I find Reyn’s note about the liveships that do not recall dragon-lives of interest. He remarks that it is possible some of the cocooned dragons died before their cocoons were opened–and while ignominous disposal of the bodies of sentient life rankles even so, it does offer the prospect of ethical wizardwood harvesting. If memory serves, it’s something discussed in later books in the Elderlings corpus; I will be continuing my rereading for the foreseeable future, so I’ll have a chance to come upon it again. Whether I will remember to connect back to this entry at such times as I come across other references, I don’t know; I have the suspicion that I do poorly with such things. But that might also give me more to do, here, and I like getting to roll around in this, so…

Help me get supplies for my daughter’s coming school year?

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

---

The following chapter, “A Dragon’s Will,” starts as a group from the small pirate fleet–Althea, Brashen, Malta, Reyn, Wintrow, Amber, Jek, and Red–readying a landing place and food for Tintaglia. She alights without dignity and takes food with complaint, and she reports the status of her serpents as she comments favorably on Malta and Reyn. The dragon’s imperiousness sits ill with Wintrow, and a tense exchange ensues that Malta manages to defuse.

Back aboard the Motley, further negotiations ensure, spearheaded by Malta; Althea finds herself approving of Malta’s work in that line. As the talks proceed, Althea realizes that the world has shifted, fundamentally, something she discusses briefly with Brashen as the talks conclude and the parties begin to disperse. Jek ships out aboard the Motley, while Amber accompanies Wintrow to the Vivacia, and Brashen and Althea return to the Paragon. After reporting things to the ship, they retire to Brashen’s cabin and make ready for bed; Althea struggles with herself as they compose themselves for the night’s rest.

Etta considers Amber and Wintrow as the two make to confer; her own status is strange to her, and she tries to reconcile herself to it. Meanwhile, Amber apologizes to Wintrow for having failed to find him before, to Wintrow’s confusion. Amber also offers cryptic wisdom. The beginnings of a hailstorm force them below decks, and Wintrow joins Etta.

Althea wakes from a nightmare, having struck Brashen in her somnolent thrashing. He believes they are to part; she disabuses him of the notion, and the two affirm their mutual love. Althea, though, holds something back.

The theme of arrogance, touched upon again in the present chapter, is one that pervades the Liveship Traders series. While there are a great many characters who do well to take pride in themselves and their abilities, no few of them take far more than is due them. It is not only the dragon–though a prideful dragon is a long-standing literary trope, to be certain–but several of the ships’ captains, as well as many of the wealthy and ennobled depicted in the series. Many of them learn humility, to be fair; those who do not seem either to be the dragon or to die. I am sure there’s some lesson to take from it, just as I’m certain that more could (and perhaps should) be done to explicate the theme–but that will be for another piece than this one.

Help me move into the new month?

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

---

The next chapter, “Secrets,” begins with Althea musing on the situation of the pirate forces and the Paragon as they flee northward–away from Divvytown. Wintrow commands the pirates, and Althea notes his control with approval; she also musts on the disposition of her brother-in-law’s corpse. The Jamaillian ships give chase, Althea noting that they will suffer lingering effects of the encounter with the serpents; Brashen notes, too, that Wintrow has hostages to employ. He also notes the supposedly ornamental axe the Paragon had wielded; Amber has no clear reply. And an exchange between Brashen and Althea reminds her of what she has suffered and the complexities of her entanglements.

Brashen considers matters, as well, musing on Althea’s reclaiming the Vivacia. Considering the implications, he realizes that he has a family again aboard the Paragon. And at the figurehead, Etta tries to make sense of what has become of Kennit; the Paragon notes that Kennit is part of the ship, now, no longer distinct. The ship also reports that Kennit “loved you [Etta] as fully as his heart could love,” the specific wording indicating much.

Brashen answers a summons to the Vivacia, not entirely graciously; Etta, Amber, and Althea accompany him, and the confer about their relative situation as officers from the Motley and the Marietta precede them to the Vivacia. Aboard, they meet with Wintrow, Jek, Malta, Reyn, Sorcor, Red, the Satrap, and the hostage nobles. News is briefly and incompletely exchanged before Wintrow calls the meeting to order. The treaty between Jamaillia and the Pirate Isles is agreed upon, at least tentatively; details remain to be discussed. Etta will serve as Queen Regent for her unborn child and Kennit’s. The Vivacia will go north to escort the serpents to their spawning grounds; Wintrow asks Althea to sail aboard their family liveship, and he asks Brashen to take the Paragon thence, as well. Reyn and Malta note the situation with the Chalcedeans, warning against their depredations and the Jamaillian nobles’ perfidy. And they are interrupted by a frantic sending from Tintaglia; she weakens, and the serpents have been beset.

There’s something of a denouement in progress in the present chapter, to be sure, with resolutions of several narrative threads approaching or concluded. My comments about things wrapping up neatly and swiftly, made in earlier rereading entries, still apply to some extent, although the effect seems lessened in the present chapter. There are clearly still issues to resolve, and there’s not much book left at this point; a handful of chapters and an epilogue remain for the novel and the series as a whole. I do still remain struck by the strange amalgamation of things going on in the milieu, but I’ll not rehearse comments I’ve long since made–at least not this time. Instead, I mean to plow ahead into the next chapter, doing so while I have some time to do it.

Help me recover from moving?

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

---

The succeeding chapter, “Hard Decisions,” opens with Malta trying to persuade the Satrap to go belowdecks for medical attention; he demurs in favor of taunting the Jamaillian lords who have turned against him. Reyn rebukes him, but the Satrap presses ahead until Malta shakes him from his tirade. She and Reyn cozen him with embroidered accounts of things to come.

Aboard the Paragon, Amber makes to lay out a shroud for Kennit, to which Brashen agrees. In the dying battle, the Paragon begins to make for open water, to leave the fray; before the ship can do so, the Vivacia calls out and tosses Althea from herself to Brashen’s ship, where she is caught safely. Amid a brief exchange, she relays Wintrow’s plan–make for Divvytown, with its defensible harbor–and the Paragon avows a desire to keep the crew alive.

Wintrow offers the Jamaillian nobles a chance to come aboard the Vivacia to safety, if they will risk themselves on a tossed line. They take the opportunity, with some assistance, and there is a tense exchange between them and the Satrap aboard Wintrow’s ship. Wintrow orders the captives secured abovedecks, where they can be seen by the Jamaillian fleet, a warning against further attacks. Malta accepts the necessity.

Aboard the Paragon, Althea goes aloft, in part to escape, and surveys matters; she notes the changed status of her ship’s crew. The battle continues, with the piratical forces getting the worse of the exchange. Amber’s call to descend breaks her reverie, and she is taken by news that her brother-in-law is aboard, complaining. He rants on the deck, and Althea deflects his tirade long enough to allow sailors to tend to Kennit’s body; Etta offers cold thanks along the way, both women burdened with Kennit’s actions against Althea. And Amber gives Althea more about which to think.

Aboard the Vivacia, Wintrow considers his command decisions and what steps to take next. The ship encourages him, and he picks a course, bringing the ship to bear upon it and making to break away; the Paragon follows, and more violence ensues as they work to free the Motley. Some of it comes from the Paragon, and both Motley and Marietta are able to escape in the carnage. Kyle Haven is slain in the exchange, and Etta cries out to the Paragon to flee for the sake of Kennit’s unborn child; the ship accedes thereto.

I am taken by the last sentence of the chapter: “On the deck, Kyle Haven’s blood pooled in standing puddles.” Throughout the novels, the liveships take in blood that falls upon their decks, absorbing the memories and spirits of those who die aboard. For Haven to be decisively rejected is saying something, especially given Kennit’s acceptance by the Paragon. Admittedly, Kennit was a Ludluck, a member of the family that had purchased and quickened the vessel; there was reason he would be taken in, in particular. But how many of the crews who had died aboard the ship were taken in, similarly, while Kyle Haven is not? Surely it is a significant thing; what significance it holds is subject to interpretation, of course, as are all things written. Perhaps it is a sign that the order Haven represents is fading away; perhaps it is the Paragon repudiating (more) madness. Perhaps it is something else, entirely?

Send a housewarming present, maybe?

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

---

The following chapter, “Rescues,” begins with Brashen railing at the Paragon to retrieve Althea instead of pressing on in pursuit of Kennit. Brashen reluctantly relents and directs his crew to heed the ship’s desires. Meanwhile, Kennit sits on the deck of a Jamaillian ship along with several slain crew and the Satrap, mulling over his dire situation and urging the Satrap to calm and consideration. The call of the Paragon sounds over the water, interrupting things, and Kennit blanches as his old family ship approaches with a serpent in company. The Vivacia, the Marietta, and the Motley come along, as well, ramming the Jamaillian ship to attempt to effect Kennit’s and the Satrap’s escapes, and battle is joined again.

Aboard the Vivacia, where Wintrow is in command, Malta struggles towards Reyn. She finds him, thinks him dead, and begins to grieve, only to see his eyes open and hear him speak to her. She searches him for injuries, and he marks and marvels at the changes that have occurred in her, and they reaffirm their love and intent to wed. Then the Vivacia rams into another ship.

Also aboard the Vivacia, Althea notes Wintrow’s command ability as she, along with others, responds to his orders. She also rehearses her hatred of Kennit and desire to see him undone until the Vivacia joins the fray and she wades into combat behind Jek.

Aboard the Jamaillian ship, Kennit attempts to fight off the sailors tasked with killing him and the Satrap. He is run through for his efforts, and stabbed again when the crew realizes he is not yet slain. Wintrow arrives to see Kennit assailed and kills his attacker, knowing despite Etta’s pleas that the pirate leader is doomed. Kennit and the Satrap are recovered, Althea fuming that Wintrow still attends her attacker, and Malta, still exulting in Reyn, takes the Satrap aside. Others work to get Kennit to the foredeck of the Paragon.

Etta tends to Kennit as he languishes; the pirate bids her take the wizardwood charm from his wrist and keep it until the birth of their child, whom he asks be named Paragon. The Vivacia takes Kennit up and offers him to the Paragon, bidding Etta accompany him to the other ship; the Paragon opens blue eyes to gaze upon the pirate as he is taken aboard, with Etta following. And he dies into his family’s liveship at last.

I find Althea’s internality perhaps most convincing in the chapter. The tensions she feels and notes…compel me. And while I take Hobb’s point that even such people as Kennit have others who love them, I do not find myself sympathizing with the pirate. Indeed, a return home for him is a kinder fate than he probably deserves. Not so for Reyn and Malta, though; although their infatuation is inopportune, it makes sense, and they’ve had to put up with enough that they ought to get some kind of happy ending. They’re not the only ones, admittedly, and Hobb does have a tendency to thwart her characters’ happiness…but, then, that’s life. Who among us has untrammeled joy after having lived in the world?

The move is tomorrow; lend a hand?