Of Raraku, which none escape unchanged

The first thing that struck me about Deadhouse Gates was how it hits very differently from Gardens of the Moon. In retrospect this is clearly intentional, but something I feel I may either have missed the first time around, or mislaid in the passing of years since. Even though it all starts in Unta, the parched, grim and frankly horrifying tone that permeates much of what happens on Seven Cities, is set.

Oh Felisin :(.

It may just be the case that I've read GotM an extra time, but I felt like there was more that caught me by surprise in DG in comparison. I couldn't help but pay more attention to the parallels and contrasts drawn between Apsalar and Icarium's sense of memory. Possibly seeing how my memory of what happens next in the story goes in and out of focus and re-discovery comes with more than just a touch of déjà vu.

A lot of what I think felt like confusing and superfluous tangents - random mentions of the Forkrul Assail and K'Chain Che'malle, references to the T'lan Imass war on a single Jaghut family near Vathar, origins of the Tellan ritual of immortality, the shredded strands of Kurald Emurlahn - felt a lot more connected during the re-read. And this time around I'm paying a lot more attention to the clear links and hints at the goings on in parallel on Genabackis!

Zooming out the (primary) action from a single city, as in GotM, to a whole sprawling content was a leap! But of course one that will come in handy later :). And while the path of hands threw up a lot that was emotional, it was nothing as compared to Felisin's journey to the heart of Raraku or indeed, the Chain of Dogs...

I mean, I remember Coltain's journey, particularly the end, being one to sear the soul, but I genuinely didn't remember the massacre outside Aren after! And given that I clearly remember Mallick Rel gunning for the Laseen's throne later, my mind boggles! In amongst all the various shades of grey, the Jhistal is a rare pitch black. Or so it seems anyway.

This time around I actually decided to only go to the Tor re-read after finishing the whole book and also thinking through some of what I feel. I know this seems to be a minority opinion, but honestly, I never found GotM hard to read. If anything it's a lighter entry point which gave me enough of a feel of what is to come without overwhelming. From DG we get into something more intense. While we are shown much more of the world, we are, naturally, also led to much deeper emotion. Which personally I really appreciate, but takes me a bit to assimilate.

I am left with a bunch of different feelings, unsurprisingly :). Looking forward to getting back to Genabackis and the mayhem there, but more so the old and new characters we will meet. Wondering which of the survivors from DG we will see when next (I remember a lot of them, but not all). But mainly, I'm left with the realization that while I started off the re-read somewhat focused on "understanding more" of the story being told, and there certainly is something to that, a lot of the enjoyment is in just getting to experience the stories told about these lives.

Finally, I appreciate that while many of the fallen are named, not all are, even when they play visibly significant roles.

Name none of the fallen, for they stood in our place.