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A content warning regarding torture applies.

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Following a brief note on torturous punishment from one of the Four at Clerres, “Bee’s Book” begins with Fitz adapting to the Tarman and the liveship’s strange resonance with his magics. Despite concerns, he determines to Skill to the Six Duchies and reviews preparations for doing so with the Fool, whose condition he considers. When he reaches out into the magic, he finds Chade waiting for him, seemingly striving to immerse himself within the Skill, and Fitz thrusts the old man into the waiting presences of Nettle and Dutiful. Leaving only a message that he will send word by mundane means, he returns to himself, rattled, and his condition startles the Fool. The two confer uneasily for a time, and the Fool, adopting the persona of Amber, departs.

After, Fitz and the Fool quarrel over Bee’s journals, Fitz wanting to keep something of his daughter to himself, as well as his shame at not being more present for her early on. But he relents and discloses Bee’s dreams to the Fool, and the pair bemoan her loss.

Fitz notes difficulty sleeping aboard the Tarman, contrasting the experience to sleeping alongside Nighteyes years before as he marks the continued passage down the Rain Wild River. One morning, Spark confers with Fitz about her part in his quarrel with the Fool. Fitz finds his anger at her dying away, and the conversation ends in an awkward quiet.

Later, the Tarman reaches a settlement on the Rain Wild, the setting described. Rain Wild architecture is explained to Fitz. Some of the social tensions at work along the Rain Wild River are noted, as are entanglements surrounding Althea, Brashen, and the Paragon. Fitz finds himself again desiring and unable to send his companions away.

At length, the Tarman pulls into Trehaug, and the liveship’s crew begins to bid farewell to Fitz and his companions. The city is described as Fitz encounters it, and he sights the waiting liveship Paragon. Seeing his own face upon it, he starts, and the Fool as Amber notes that all can be explained.

The present chapter, glossing travel that in earlier volumes takes many chapters to enact, serves principally to relocate Fitz and his companions to a more “useful” location. The travel is not the important thing in itself; what the travel allows is. One thing it allows is a suggestion not only of the passage of time among the various components of the Realm of the Elderlings series, but also of the progress and development of various areas within it. While the seemingly swifter passage from Kelsingra to Cassarick and thence to Trehaug is doubtlessly partly a result of going downstream rather than up, more of it is likely to be greater familiarity with the waterways involved, which is something that can only come about with repeated round trips between the settlements over time. Too, the noted population density suggests that Rain Wild society is growing and prospering, and even the noted tensions between Cassarick and other settlements along the river are suggestive; the people on the river have the luxury of being at odds with one another. All of this suggests, at least to my reading, that the Rain Wilds are doing better than they previously had, and as I reflect on it, I wonder if I can tie so much back to the parallels to the early United States I’ve identified as being at work in the Liveship Traders and Rain Wilds novels. I suppose it adds another to my sprawling collection of scholarly somedays.

On the topic of tensions surrounding Cassarick: I appreciate seeing that they are, in fact, in place. It is too much to expect that so loose a polity as the Traders seem to have would be united in the absence of an overt outside threat (perhaps another parallel to the early United States under the Articles of Confederation applies); it is entirely fitting that the various city-states, even if having commonalities of culture, would find themselves at odds with one another from time to time. From its early introduction, Cassarick is not exactly the nicest of places, and some of its leadership does present itself as unacceptably predatory and aligned with adverse interests, so it makes sense, too, that it would find itself under some opprobrium. There’s not a nice, neat “and they all lived happily ever after” here; we see the after, and it’s not entirely happy, although there is happiness to be found in it. It’s a good bit of verisimilitude in a series that, despite being clearly fantasy, makes much of such things.

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A content warning applies regarding suicidal ideation.

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Following commentary from Chade regarding the degradation of Skill knowledge in the Six Duchies, “The Tarman” opens with Fitz and his companions watching the titular liveship arrive. Fitz contrasts the arrival of the vessel with his experience of the docks at Buckkeep as the situation is described, and the Fool as Amber lays out some of the liveship’s nature and history.

The Tarman ties off, and Fitz and his companions are greeted by Leftrin and Alise. Introductions are made, and Fitz finds the liveship registering to his magics, and Fitz finds himself the subject of the ship’s own inquiry. Leftrin notes the oddity of the event and guides Fitz to commune with the ship. The Tarman, in turn, recognizes Fitz as claimed by a dragon, Verity. Fitz accepts the claim, and the liveship agrees to bear him downstream. So much noted, Leftrin shows Fitz about the ship and lays out the schedule that must be followed for the plans that have been made to be enacted.

The next day sees preparations made for departure and gifts given to Fitz and his companions. Fitz learns something of the liveships and compares them to his experience of stone dragons, and he sits amiably with several of his companions, Leftrin, and Alise as they begin downstream. Soon enough, as the trip downriver commences, Fitz’s companions find themselves engaged with the crew, and Fitz takes comfort in the relative boredom of the trip. He also learns from the Fool more of Clerres and his youth there, including the efforts to convince him that he was not the White Prophet of the age and his introduction to Ilistore.

The effort of recall pushes the Fool to panic, and Fitz offers such comfort as he can, relating his own experience of desiring death and not desiring it. Given the possibilities they face, Fitz does agree to prepare something the Fool can use to die rather than suffer in Clerres again.

The downriver journey continues, the scenery described and contrasted with the terrain of the Six Duchies. Fitz begins to think of his home, and he and the Fool confer privately and ominously while the crew overnights ashore along the way.

The present chapter is not the first to carry the name of the eponymous liveship; that, I believe, happens back in Dragon Haven, here. As is ever the case with chapters titled the same or substantively similarly (here, the earlier chapter lacks the article that the present chapter has), there is a temptation to read them against each other, to see how the one foreshadows the other or the other references the one. As is often the case with me, such things have to be left to some scholarly someday; I write what I can when I can, and that doesn’t often or always allow me as much time to do the writing or the kind of writing that I would like to do. But if it is the case that someone else does such work and beats me to it, I’d love to see it; I’ve got places to refer to it and other writing that I can do in response, and I’m always glad to have more to say about the Realm of the Elderlings novels.

The present chapter also offers a useful indication of the chronology at work in the Realm of the Elderlngs novels, Leftrin noting “we’ve had close to a score of years” to improve the Tarman‘s passenger quarters since the vents of the Rain Wilds novels. I’ve not done the work (yet?) to slot matters together more firmly, although I know Hobb makes enough mention of other events–Fitz’s estimated age, the time needed for Dutiful and Elliania to have children who grow to adulthood as defined in the milieu, and the the like–to allow for at least a rough reckoning. I know, too, that there’s not an exact calendar necessarily at work throughout the texts, no parallel to Appendices B and D of Lord of the Rings. It’s not so much a surprise, really; I’ve said once or twice before that Hobb moves away from the Tolkienian fantasy tradition, so one more way in which she does so is not to be wondered at.

I think also that the present chapter does somewhat to reaffirm the setting-divergence from which I make the argument about Hobb’s divergence from the Tolkienian fantasy tradition. If nothing else, there’s a lot of physical description of the Rain Wild River and its course that repeats what appears in earlier series, so it reinforces the claims I make about those earlier novels and their functions. I’d have to (re-)re-read the earlier works to be sure, admittedly, but I have some cause to do so. Not all of my scholarly efforts are consigned to unknown somedays; some of them actually have deadlines and set dates, and while I can’t necessarily discuss them at length beforehand, I do have a tendency to put here what I deliver first elsewhere. I’ll doubtlessly do so again.

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Following another excerpt from Bee’s dream journals, “Tintaglia” begins with Reyn calling on Fitz and the Fool in their chambers to note the arrival of the Tarman. Details of the liveship’s berthing are reported, and Reyn excuses himself. Afterwards, the Fool rebukes Fitz for having gotten him drunk and prepares to meet with Thymara as Amber.

Later, Fitz and Lant go out into Kelsingra, Fitz thinking to revisit the map-tower familiar to him, having lost the map Chade had given him in the bear attack. Their progress is interrupted by the reported arrival of Tintaglia, whom Fitz and Land discuss as they move to join the throng of those greeting her return. They see Reyn, Malta, and Phron greet the dragon, and they witness Tintaglia discover the changes that have been wrought in Phron, to her annoyance. Fitz answers her challenge, and he knows he faces death before the arrival of Heeby offers a distraction.

The dragons’ conference somewhat mollifies Tintaglia, who decides not to kill Fitz. Fitz presses for information, and it is revealed that Tintaglia also lacks knowledge of Clerres. She purposes to seek it after she is tended and issues directives to that effect, sending the Elderlings scrambling to fulfill them. Fitz, shaken, considers what he has learned and retires, Lant and the Fool tending him. They confer about events, and the Fool makes himself available to answer questions about Clerres that Fitz puts to him, laying out more of its structures and development. Prilkop’s experience in Clerres and the Fool’s are contrasted.

Over the next days, the Fool lays out more of his knowledge of Clerres to Fitz. Details of its physical layout emerge, as does more about its organization. The effort of recall exhausts the Fool, however.

Fitz sorts and considers what he learns from the Fool about their objective. He takes stock of his supplies and other resources, advised about the latter by Spark. Lant and Perseverance include themselves into Fitz’s planning, and the Fool seemingly cannot refuse a bitter joke.

The present chapter reads to me, at least partly, as an attempt to paper over some plot-holes introduced not long before. The antagonism between the Servants and the dragons does seem like something that other dragons than Heeby would remember, yet even Tintaglia, who did not suffer the over-long time as a serpent that affected so many dragons so badly, does not have memory of it. (Icefyre could be expected to, as seems to be the case in the chapter.) Comments about dragons’ memories in the present chapter seem calculated to account for the gaps in knowledge, offering what seems a reasonably neat explanation of why such a thing hadn’t come up before. This is in a Watsonian sense; the Doylist is, of course, that Hobb is making it up as she goes along. It’s a work of fiction, though, so so much is to be expected; there’s really no other way to go about doing it. But I appreciate that such an effort is made.

Relatedly, I appreciate that the present chapter makes so many explicit references to earlier events. One of the things that I have tried to do throughout my rereading is point out where a text refers to its predecessors; it’s something of a habit from my days trying to be a scholar that I try to cite sources and trace ideas, even if it’s not something I necessarily do in a formal and rigorous way most of the time at this point in my life. (Witness this, for example.) Admittedly, the earlier parts of the Realm of the Elderlings novels cannot do as much of this as later parts; the simple fact of having more to refer to makes reference easier to carry out. But even later parts are not always good about such things. This is not itself bad; a new work does need to have new things to say and new ways to say them. Still, the idea of multiple novels and series working within a common milieu suggests that there ought, at times, to be acknowledgments of the common threads moving among them. That the present chapter makes such acknowledgments, and that it also attempts to address how the new ideas it contains can fit in with what has already been established and asserted, reads to me as a good thing.

It’s not the only thing that does, but it certainly does.

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Another brief excerpt from Bee’s dream journals precedes “Beggar.” The chapter begins with Bee considering her isolation in Chalced as she continues to hide from Dwalia and her company. Wolf-Father continues to advise her as she reconnoiters her surroundings and assesses her own condition, but the advice he can give is limited by geography.

As the area stirs to daily life, Bee reflects on what she knows of Chalcedean events, including the overthrow of the previous rulership. Bee plots to present herself as a mute beggar and sets about securing funds and food. There is some success at that task, and Bee finds some comfort briefly before recalling her encounter with the Fool and its ending.

Bee rests, waking late and retreating to where she had previously reconnoitered. She takes stock of her situation and moves to address it, sleeping again to wake in tears in the night. To Wolf-Father’s comments, Bee responds angrily, and the next day sees her venture out into Chalced for food once again. Danger presents itself to her, and Bee observes the work of other beggars and thieves in the local market. At Wolf-Father’s insistence, she rejects an offer of seeming kindness made to her, and she withdraws once again to where she had hidden before.

The following day, Bee ventures out again and is robbed of what few coins she has. Thus reduced, she seeks out a target for theft and makes an attempt at stealing bread to feed herself, securing a loaf but being apprehended for doing so. Bee is made to give some account for herself and is taken into custody awaiting sale as a slave to offset the damage her theft has caused. The captivity is not as bad as could be, as Bee is fed decently and not otherwise accosted, and she confers with Wolf-Father, who urges her to rest and heal as she can.

Bee wakes still in captivity and recovers somewhat. Another day passes with her imprisoned until Dwalia arrives to claim her. Bee realizes again the effect Vindeliar has on people and shuts herself against it, although at the cost of closing out Wolf-Father, as well.

There is some humor early in the chapter. The exchange between Bee and Wolf-Father–Bee’s “They have no forest” being met by Wolf-Father’s “This explains much about the Chalcedeans”–brought a chuckle to my lips as I read it again. There’s a long tradition of forests in fantasy literature, of course, and while the woods often offer danger, the danger they offer is of an easily understood sort; the lack of it is a separation from “the normal,” of regard for and connection to life and the natural world, which does speak to the caricature of evil that Chalced has been presented as being. That’s not the humor, though; the joke is in the flatness of the response, the assignment of so much wrong to such a simple thing. The juxtaposition jars, and the jarring prompts laughter, easing acceptance of the idea–which is one of the things humor is apt to do.

On the topic of Chalcedean evil, the present chapter does seem to indicate that some reforms are underway, although the country cannot be called “good” even in the wake of Chassim’s accession. Slavery still remains an accepted practice, and kidnapping seems still to be prevalent. But it is at least not the case that Bee faces assault while awaiting sale, as other volumes in the Realm of the Elderlings corpus make clear is a likelihood, or that she finds herself possibly the next meal for the rulers of the area. Chalced remains evil under Chassim, but it is less evil than it had been under Andronicus, and there is something that resembles hope for its further development even in the changes already clear from the text.

If Chalced’s evil might be mitigated (although, again, not erased; it is still a bad place), that of Dwalia is assuredly not so. She continues to resort to outright domination, via Vindeliar (who cannot be said to be in full possession of his faculties despite his power, and I am put in mind of parallels to Thick; there might be something in reading the characters against one another), as well as selling off others in her company to secure her own convenience. To be certain, even the “good guys” in the Realm of the Elderlings will use their powers to relieve others of their free will; the Skilling Verity does against the Red-Ship raiders offers no few examples, and Fitz himself is not always or even necessarily kind with his powers. (What Nettle does can only be dimly guessed at, even if her king has a distaste for disreputable methods; what an interquel such things might present!) I find myself asking if Dwalia is more evil only in that she demands another do such work for her…but that I am obliged to ask such questions only deepens my engagement with the text and the corpus of which it is part, and that is something that speaks well of them to me.

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Following a brief excerpt from Prilkop’s writings, “Revelations” begins with Fitz recuperating slowly from his exertions in the Skill. Residents of Kelsingra continue to ply him for healing that he dares not open himself to perform, and Amber joins Fitz in his chambers for brandy one evening, resuming the identity of the Fool when the pair are in private. They confer about Fitz’s unwillingness to resume Skilling while in Kelsingra, surrounded by the memory stone, and Fitz guides conversation toward the Fool’s experience of Clerres. Prilkop’s ancientry is noted along the way, as are tendencies of Kelsingrans and Rain Wilders to become lost in the memories that are stored in the stones of the Elderling cities. Parallels are drawn to August and Verity Farseer, and the pair discuss the Fool’s resumption of being marked by Skill.

With some guild, Fitz steers conversation back towards Clerres, and the Fool reminisces about his upbringing and his introduction to Clerres. Details of the island and its inhabitants are provided, and some information about the prophecies that led the Fool to Buckkeep emerges. More details of Clerres are evoked, although to the Fool’s pain, and Fitz learns the Pale Woman’s name, Ilistore. He also learns of how the Fool and Prilkop were treated and won over when they returned to Clerres at length, with the Fool remarking on how he had managed to conceal Fitz even amid his accounts to the Servants. Fitz’s fraught presence in prophecy receives more attention, and the Fool somewhat drunkenly opines on the strangeness of being cared for by Farseers. Still sodden, the Fool tucks up against a willing Fitz who watches as he falls asleep.

The present chapter is not the first in the Realm of the Elderlings novels to bear the title “Revelations.” Indeed, it’s one of the more common, if not the most common, chapter-title Hobb uses; it appears in Assassin’s Apprentice, Golden Fool, and Dragon Haven. Had I the time at the moment to read the four chapters against one another, I think it would prove of interest; I’m not sure there’s any presentation or independent publication potential in such a work, but that hardly stops me from doing much or any of what I do to dabble in literary criticism and interpretation anymore. Time constraints, however, do, so I will add this to the towering pile of scholarly somedays that has grown up as I have worked through my rereading. I really do have a lot to do, and far less time to do it in than I might prefer…but that’s true of all of us, I think.

As might be expected from a chapter titled “Revelations,” there is much exposition in the present chapter. Details of Clerres are welcome, even if they reinforce what seems to me still to be a simplistic ponerological stance as regards the place and its people. More nuanced, perhaps, is the treatment of Prilkop in the present chapter. I believe I’ve commented before about Hobb’s tendency to have characters who are pushed into positions of subservience and opprobrium be marked, to have color and tincture added to them; Jamaillian and Chalcedean enslavement practices come to mind as examples, and I’m sure that skimming my records would point out more. (Another scholarly someday is indexing all of this stuff, which will be a project on its own, to be sure.) Here, Prilkop is a counter-example, the eldest of his people and the most successful in his goals being denoted specifically by his darker skin. It is a neat inversion of the fantasy commonplace of whitening with greater achievement (eg Gandalf’s transformation from the Grey to the White), and I’m sure there’s some reading thereof that will annoy no few people with its putative wokeness. There’s yet another scholarly someday to plumb therein (and if someone’s already done it, I’d love to know).

I seem to collect more and more of them. Ah, to have time for them all!

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After a brief excerpt from Bee’s dream-journal, “The Bargain” returns to Fitz as he readies himself for a meeting with the people of Kelsingra. He finds himself pleased with preparations undertaken by Spark and others. Perseverance asks Fitz after Spark and the Fool and their fluid identities, the boy enheartened by the man’s considered answer and behavior. The Fool and Lant join the group, and, after a few comments about Lady Thyme that confuse Lant, the group moves to meet with the leading Traders in the city.

Fitz, the Fool, and their company are conducted to a meeting of the dragon keepers, who are named and described as some introduce themselves. Others join, and dinner is served, over which conversation commences. Discussion is made of Fitz and the Fool’s errand to Clerres, and Reyn and Malta, grateful for the death of Ellik for his treatment of Selden, offer their aid to the group, and it is fulsome. It does not extend to a gift of the dragons’ Silver, however, despite Amber’s request for the same; it does, though, take in the conveyance of messages to Dutiful, which bespeak the prospect of Skilled healers and open trade, as Fitz and Amber remark as they retire for the evening.

Fitz spends long composing his letter to Dutiful with circumspection, after which he and the rest await the Tarman for conduct down the river. As they wait, Rapskal repeatedly attempts to press them, and Fitz realizes he must press the Fool for details of Clerres. Perseverance and Motley have an encounter with a dragon that the boy relates with some delight, and Fitz finally has an encounter with Rapskal in which the latter apologizes, convinced by Heeby of his intentions towards Clerres. Rapskal also offers Fitz advice about dealing with the memories that speak from the stones of Kelsingra before conducting him back to his chambers.

In Fitz’s chambers, he and Rapskal confer about the dragons and their memories. Hearing Rapskal’s yearning for something to enhance Heeby’s memories, Fitz recognizes an avenue through which he can find more information about what he will face, and he moves along it, learning more about the bond between keeper and dragon as well as about earlier depredations of Clerres and its people. The possibility of other populations of dragons and their systematic elimination is raised, and Rapskal notes continued doubts of Fitz and his party. But he, having been urged to do so by Heeby, gifts Fitz vials of Silver. As others arrive, he takes his leave with ominous words, and Fitz secures the gift.

Fitz’s group regathers and exchanges news. The theory that the Servants had systematically destroyed dragons is voiced and discussed, and new dangers begin to present themselves to Fitz’s mind as he purposes again to press the Fool for details about Clerres.

The conversation between Perseverance and Fitz early in the chapter regarding the fluid presentations of Spark and the Fool attracts attention for me, as might be expected. After all, I’ve commented no few times on how the issue of gender presentation pops up and confounds characters, including some who probably ought to know better (perhaps most recently here, with reference to any number of earlier portions of the Realm of the Elderlings corpus). That Fitz seems finally to have accorded himself to the Fool’s fluidity is a good thing, although I have to wonder at his arrival at it–but then, he did recently have some transformative experiences, so perhaps something shook loose in him to bring him around. Perseverance’s easy faith in the prince he serves…if I was ever so trusting, it has been a long time, indeed.

The related joke about Chade as Lady Thyme, playing on Lant’s ignorance, comes off as being a bit mean-spirited, the more so because it juxtaposes with the aforementioned acceptances. I like a good joke, and the timing of the humor is not out of line, but it is pointed in a way I’m not entirely sure Lant has coming this time. Other times, yes, because Lant has been and can be a pompous ass, but not this time.

(The thought occurs, or reoccurs, that Rosemary becomes an excellent name for someone trained by Chade, and the question of whether there had been a Parsley and a Sage before rises for me. Hobb is of an age to have access to the reference…)

The theory Rapskal motions towards and that Fitz and the Fool discuss openly, that the Servants in Clerres purposefully destroyed the dragons, perhaps as a self-protective measure, intrigues. In retrospect, it does seem odd that a people as demonstrably widespread as the Elderlings were–consider the map-rooms in Kelsingra and Aslevjal–would be undone so suddenly even by a cataclysm that reshapes the coastlines; a more spatially restricted dragonkind and Elderling civilization might well be undone by a volcano, but even a supervolcano would struggle to completely kill off what seems an intercontinental body. Even with the clearly large passage of time involved–remember that the Elderlings are attested in early Six Duchies materials, and there is enough language change between those materials and Fitz’s present that translation is an issue–there should be more evidence of the Elderlings and the dragons that made them available than seems to have been the case. Armed with foreknowledge, however, a dedicated and malevolent group might well be able to seize upon the opportunity presented by a massive natural disaster to enact a genocide and work towards something like a damnatio memoriæ–and the Servants, as has been repeatedly demonstrated, are a dedicated and malevolent group.

While I still contend that Hobb moves in many ways away from the Tolkienian fantasy literature tradition, I do think that there is some motion towards the bones in his soup in this–and I remember that Hobb grounds herself in having read Tolkien, too…

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After a commentary from Chade about the decline of the Elderlings and the legendary alliance between them and the early Farseers, “Chalced” begins with Wolf-Father speaking to Bee of his being carried by the scruff of his neck as she emerges from the Skill-pillar into a hollow in the ground. Dwalia and the others–including Reppin–are crammed into the hollow with her, and Reppin finds herself pushed back into the stone as Wolf-Father helps Bee ground herself. She assesses her situation as Dwalia and the others fret and begin to panic.

At Wolf-Father’s urging, Bee attempts to pass back through the Skill-pillar, to no avail; at Wolf-Father’s further urging, Bee sleeps. When she wakes, Bee assesses her situation again, and she is somewhat taken aback by Kerf’s blunt discussion of their prospects and offer to kill her rather than let her suffer through what will come. Bee demurs, and the sounds of life outside the hollow begin to reach the group. Light begins to filter into the hollow, revealing it as the result of a collapse rather than a deliberate construction, and Kerf manages to move the fallen stones enough for Bee to slip out. She hides and watches as the others emerge, and Kerf notes his recognition of their location. Bee takes advantage of the others’ distraction to hide herself better, free from them but in a strange place.

The present chapter is not the first to bear the title “Chalced”; a chapter late in Blood of Dragons does so, as well. It is tempting to read the present chapter against the earlier, the coincidence of titles alone suggesting it as a short project that might well be done; the content of the present chapter, emerging from the content of the earlier, affirms it. I’m not going to do so at this point; it is very much the thing that makes for a decent scholarly someday, perhaps a good thing to take up in a post to this webspace that is not part of the rereading series, proper. I do always need to find outlets for my desire to write, after all, and turning to something resembling literary critical practice provides them in plenty. How the rest of my life will allow for such, though, I am not sure–hence the “someday” bit.

Anyway, the present chapter is relatively brief, only some eleven pages in my copy. (Again, I really need to get a cohesive run of the Realm of the Elderlings novels to see how the page numbers all line up. I really do think there’s something to the chapter-length, although I acknowledge that that might well be me digging deeper to find something than is needful or even useful. Such is life.) It does a good job, I think, of reinforcing something that a number of prior chapters in the Realm of the Elderlings novels point up: the danger of Skill-pillars. Repeatedly throughout the works, mention is made of the perils of traveling to unknown pillars, the thought of what would happen if the destination pillar was submerged (as here), broken, or buried. Bee and her captors–save Reppin–were lucky in the event (although so much could be expected, Bee being a deuteragonist and so needing to be around for the duration), but they need not have been. And the fact of Reppin being pushed back into the pillar…there are some implications there that stand some interrogating, I think.

Perhaps another scholarly someday is in order for that.

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Following an excerpt from Bee’s dream journals, “In the Mountains” opens with Bee waking to find her efforts at escape noticed. Dwalia rebukes the others in her group and orders Bee secured more stringently, which orders are carried out with complaint. Dwalia, angry at needing to remain in place for another night, commands the others to seek out wood, and while they do, Bee finds evidence of her father’s presence and the bear attack he suffered. Dwalia also notices and retrieves some of what Fitz had carried.

Dwalia considers her findings, snapping angrily at the others in her group as she does, and Bee considers them. Wolf-Father speaks within her, offering counsel for how to proceed. In the night, she hears dissension brewing among Dwalia’s group as they lay out details of how their mission began and how Dwalia came to lead it. Bee notes not understanding all of what is said, but she takes from their conversation what she can, and not only about Clerres. At the group’s discussion of dreams, Bee considers her own, her captivity-enforced inability to record them, and the increasing urgency of the dreams as they go unrecorded. Pretending to write eases her somewhat.

More days pass, and matters among Dwalia’s party deteriorate. The one Bee had injured, Reppin, suffers the effects of the injury, and the others question Dwalia. Bee, advised by Wolf-Father, notes the nearby presence of a bear, and she finds herself confronted by Kerf, who is much taken by the Skill-visions that pervade their location. Strangely sympathetic, Kerf does offer her some ease, and she makes another attempt at escape that Dwalia violently interdicts. In the wake thereof, Kerf speaks to Bee again, and Dwalia arrives at an understanding of her location. Prompted, Kerf offers information about where he has seen one of the runes the local Skill-pillars display, although he hesitates to tender more assistance. Bee makes another unsuccessful attempt at escape, and Reppin is abandoned as Dwalia compels the group through another Skill-pillar.

The present chapter does fill in a bit of lore hinted at but not, to my recollection, presented before: the name of the Pale Woman. So far as I recall or have notes of (and I will acknowledge that my memory is not what it used to be, as well as that my notes may well not be complete), the Pale Woman was only referred to by that epithet or addressed directly previously. To have confirmation of her name as Ilistore does not necessarily change any previous reading, but it is nice to have a bit more information, a bit more depth and detail in an already well-built narrative world. It’s something I appreciate.

The present chapter also speaks to something I’ve noticed in Hobb’s work before: a focus on writing as writing. There’s a lot to say on the topic of how Hobb presents writing, even outside the present series that makes as much of both Fitz’s and Bee’s writing as it does–it’s probably another scholarly someday to trace it out. I will note, though, that there are times Hobb gets fairly heavy-handed about her thoughts about writing; Words like Coins, a minor entry in the Realm of the Elderlings corpus, and one I will eventually treat in this reread, offers an example, as I’ve noted before. Bee’s need to record her dreams, the way the dreams press upon her consciousness until she does so, seems another such comment. It’s not necessarily revelatory, admittedly; among others, Asimov quips about the demands of writing for a writer, and I, myself, have made comments about it (here and here, if not also elsewhere). But that something is not new or unique does not mean it does not merit attention; indeed, how much work done to understand literature (or any art), and how much of the enjoyment of the same, inheres in finding what a given piece pulls from and references?

I also note with some joy the ponerological thrust of the chapter (not least because I delight in the opportunity to use the word). The nature of evil has been a topic in the Realm of the Elderlings novels before, of course (here, for example), and I have written about the cartoonishness of some of the later iterations (here, here, and here, by that term). Dwalia’s readiness to abandon her companions and their plotting against her, with reference to higher-level plotting and infighting, seems to align with that, and I’m unsure how I feel about it. Part of what I like about Hobb is her nuancing of tropes; this seems less in that line than I have been used to seeing, although it may be that my reading has shifted as I have gotten older. Like I note above, my memory isn’t what it used to be.

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Read the previous entry in the series here.
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Commentary from Fitz regarding the Outislander concept of finblead precedes “The Silver Touch,” which opens with Fitz experiencing the onset of elfbark’s effects as administered by Lant in Kelsingra. As the drug takes effect, upset continues to surround Fitz, with Rapskal repeating his accusations against the Fool as Amber, that she stole Silver, and manhandling her as Spark tries to extricate her. Fitz rehearses recent events, realizing that the series of Skill-workings he has performed on the people of Kelsingra will have drained him in ways he cannot yet address. Malta and Reyn work to take the situation in hand, and Amber frees herself with the threat of contact with the Silver, which Thymara backs.

Released from Rapskal’s grip but not his accusation, Amber reports that she bore Silver on her hand long before, even early in her relationship with Malta. The re-launching of the Paragon is noted, and Amber asserts that, at that point, she had marked Malta with Silvered fingers. Reyn affirms the assertion, and Amber attests to how she had come to bear the Silver that had marked Malta. Further discussion is quashed, and Fitz and his party are escorted to their rooms. There, Fitz finds that the elfbark he has taken has not fully impeded his Skill, and he inadvertently effects more healing, rejecting further assistance against the risk of yet more uncontrolled expression of power. The revelation prompts heated private conversation with the Fool, one that wearies Fitz to sleep.

Fitz partly wakes to find himself being attended and discussed; Lant evidently recalls his first experience of FitzChivalry Farseer clearly, and Perseverance had evidently paid attention to Withywoods gossip. Fitz recalls Molly amid his dozing, and Lant and Perseverance discuss the challenge looming before them of bringing Fitz home.

Slumbering more deeply, Fitz communes with a dragon in dream. The dragon, seemingly Sintara, notes displeasure with Fitz’s healings and presses him for information about his errand. Fitz admits to seeking vengeance on Clerres, and the dragon recalls an unspecified ill there. Fitz wakes in the night and begins to tend himself, assisted uneasily by Lant. The pair confer, and Lant apprises Fitz of how matters stand in Kelsingra as regards them. Lant moves off to retrieve supplies, and Amber joins Fitz, aided by Perseverance. More reports follow, and Fitz notes the peril in his continued Skill-workings in the city. He notes, too, his desire to depart, to which the rest agree, although Amber advises against a hasty exit, explaining some difficulties that would attend on such a thing. An invitation to dine with Reyn and Malta arrives, and Amber notes that bargaining will soon begin.

The prefatory comments to the chapter once again attract my attention. Here, is it because they once again look at the language of the Outislanders, something that has attracted Fitz’s attention before (for example, here). I have commented in earlier pieces about some of the ways in which Hobb uses something like early English to reflect the language of the Outislanders, something in which she mimics Tolkienian practice (yes, I know, but I also know) regarding Rohan and Gondor; the two peoples are akin, at some level, and their language shows similarities therefore. In the present case, however, the term being referenced seems much less…considered…than earlier examples; “finblead” seems a medievalist skinning rather than an earnest invocation of the medieval. It’s definitely the kind of thing that piques my interest, given my associations, so I think it will be something to which I return in some earnest.

The present chapter does a good job of demonstrating how the Fool manages to mislead without lying. As Amber, the Fool meets Rapskal’s accusation of having stolen Silver with the assertion that she had been marked by it before Rapskal was born–which is true enough; the Fool was marked by having touched Verity amid his work on his dragon. Not said is that the Fool as Amber did not go to the Silver well; she did, in fact, do so; what she says is that the magic that marks her “is the same that was accidentally gifted to [her] by King Verity” (28). But that, of course, he has from Kelsingra before. It’s honestly adept word-work, very much in keeping with the idea of the Fool as a jester (about which I’ve written before). I wonder if it’s something to which I might also return in time, yet another of my many scholarly somedays; I think I am building quite a collection of them at this point.

The present chapter also does well what the preceding chapter does: explicate the situation. As previously, the final book in a series can rightly expect (to the extent that anthropomorphizing a text is appropriate, which may well not be no extent, as I’ve gestured towards before) that its readers are broadly familiar with the series and so need not recapitulate every detail. Also as previously, any subsequent book in a series must expect that there has been some time between its release and that of its most recent predecessor, meaning that it should expect to have to do something to catch readers up on what’s going on. Too, my own readerly experience has not always been able to take in a series from its beginning; I’ve been paid to write lesson plans for many works (something I’m happy to do for you, too!), and no few of them have been later volumes in series with which I was not familiar when I took on the projects. Having explicatory passages has been helpful for me to understand what is going on well enough to write something to help other people teach it. I can easily imagine that someone else would be in a similar situation, or that a reader new to Hobb would see a copy of the present volume on a bookstore shelf and pick it up, coming in at the end and needing to know what has gone before.

If the Iliad can pick up where it does, surely later works can also do so.

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Read the previous entry in the series here.
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A commentary by Chade on the map-room at Aslevjal precedes “Bee Stings.” The chapter opens with Bee fleeing from Dwalia and her company after emerging from the Skill-pillar. Her situation is related, as are her surroundings, and the voice of Wolf-Father within her bids her find a place to stand and fight. She complies as pursuit continues, and she gives as good an account of herself in the ensuing fracas as can be hoped–but she is taken again and beaten unconscious.

Bee wakes restrained and assesses her injuries as she can. Within her, Wolf-Father exhorts her to work to free herself again, and she overhears her captors’ conversation about her. Bee also hears the effects the environment is having on said captors, some of whom hear voices from the Skill-stones surrounding them. Despite that, she despairs of escape, but Wolf-Father continues to urge her to work towards it regardless. He also relates the circumstances under which he came to know Fitz. Echoes through the Skill continue to beleaguer Bee’s captors, although Dwalia cannot hear them, and she orders harsh treatment for Bee.

To her credit, Bee stifles her impulse to resist, conserving her strength. Too, assisted by Wolf-Father, she catches the scent of her father, not long gone from the place where she now is. Emboldened, she returns to the work of effecting her escape again.

I do delight in the pun of the present chapter’s title. One of the great pleasures of my life has been word-play; one of the many benefits of being a father is that I have justification for it since Ms. 8 came to my wife and me. And the pun at work in the present chapter’s title bears little explication–except, perhaps, to point out where it fails. For bees tend to die after they sting, and Bee has survived inflicting hers upon her captors, even if she suffered to do it.

I note, too, that the present chapter does what first chapters are apt to do, whether of new books or of new books in existing series: explicate the situation. It is clear Hobb expects readers who pick up the book to be familiar with the Realm of the Elderlings novels that precede it; even the explications in place make reference to things not necessarily present in the text as presented. But she does remind readers of how matters stood at the end of the previous volume–and there was some span between publications, with Fool’s Quest emerging onto shelves in 2015 and Assassin’s Fate in 2017. Two years is enough time to forget quite a bit, and I do not think I am alone in appreciating a refresher after even that time. After all, even if I am rereading the novels on a fairly consistent basis, I am rereading them at this point; I did pick up my copies shortly after they hit print, so I did have the gap then that I do not now.

No, at this point, my memory has other gaps. Some of them will fill back in as I reread. Some, I can patch by looking at other things I have written, both in and out of this webspace. Some, alas, are gone forever, or are at best dimly recalled, shadows moving in the night.

I don’t think I’m afraid of the dark, though.

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