kalinara (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
kalinara) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
i_read_what2020-02-16 11:49 pm
kalinara) wrote in i_read_what2020-02-16 11:49 pm
Shapechangers - Book Four - Chapter Three
So last time, Alix suffered through something amazingly traumatic and Duncan was a fucking douchebag.
But now, they're going to the palace to save a genocidal king from...honestly I'm not sure why they're trying to save the genocidal king when they've got the much less genocidal heir RIGHT HERE, but honestly that's the least of my complaints about this book.
So we start out with Duncan, Carillon and Alix finding shelter in the shadow of the walls of the palace. Somehow this allows them to avoid Solindish soldiers that have sprouted up into existence for this chapter. (Even though it would have made sense to see them before!) There are too many Ihlini around for Duncan to use his powers, and even Alix can feel the weakness.
Fortunately, Carillon played here as a child and knows all the secrets of the palace. Duncan tells Alix to use her talent to summon the lir, as they'll bring the other warriors. Alix is worried, because he'd implied before that magic use could hurt her baby, but he tells her there's no choice.
He's not wrong here, but I still hate him.
Alix manages to reach out and connect to Storr before she nearly faints. Storr is going to tell the other lir, which FINALLY answers the question about whether or not lir communicate with each other. It would have been nice to learn this before the second to last chapter. But whatever, I'm almost through this nonsense.
Carillon and Duncan choose this moment for a macho pissing contest:
Carillon flicked a dark glance at Duncan. “I would not use her so, shapechanger.”
Duncan’s face hardened. “It is for your sake I asked it, princeling.”
Alix put a hand up and pushed herself away from the wall, straightening her tired shoulders. “Enough of this. If you wish Homana reconciled with her Cheysuli forebears, you will have to begin with yourselves.” She glared at them. “Yourselves!”
Carillon looked guilty. Duncan, mouth twisting in Finn’s ironic manner, nodded to himself.
1. Carillon, stop being a macho idiot. Also stop with the racial epithets.
2. Are you really doing this for CARILLON'S sake, Duncan? Because I seem to recall you wanting to leave the guy in fucking captivity, and would have if Alix didn't force your hand.
3. Do these guys really WANT to reconcile the races? Carillon won't even verbally commit to the idea that he'd end his uncle's purges. And Duncan doesn't believe in rescuing the dude who could POSSIBLY end the purge.
4. It is interesting that Carillon is the one who looks guilty here. That's a good sign.
5. And of course it's Alix, who almost fainted a moment ago, who has to act like an adult and get her thirty year old husband to stop fighting with an eighteen year old.
Anyway, Storr arrives, with Finn, who has blood on his jerkin and a victorious glint in his eye. At least someone's having fun a-murdering. He notices Duncan's neck and expresses actual concern, albeit masked by a wisecrack. They have some actually endearing banter about Duncan "growing voiceless" and whether or not Finn might prefer him that way.
And for one moment, Ms. Roberson seems to remember that Alix might actually have some lingering trauma over the experiences of this book: "The others had gathered. Alix saw not a single warrior was missing. She wondered, in remembered horror, how many men lay dead at shapechanger hands.".
I'm so used to the book brushing off Alix's experiences that this feels out of place.
Anyway, Duncan wants to go help Shaine. Finn asks how, pointing out that they can't shapechange. But Duncan notes that Carillon will let them in. And Finn and Carillon have another moment:
Duncan gestured to Carillon. “The prince has said he can get us in.”
Finn’s face expressed doubt. No one else moved, but Alix sensed their unspoken disbelief.
Then Carillon shifted against the wall and stood upright.
“You have little enough reason to trust me. It would be a simple matter for me to let you in and lead you into a trap of the Mujhar’s making.” He smiled grimly. “While I have not precisely been your enemy, neither have I been your ally.”
“I think we are in agreement for the first time, princeling,” Finn said in careful condescension.
Carillon, to Alix’s surprise, appeared unoffended. He smiled calmly at Finn. “You need my aid, shapechanger. Mine.”
Finn grunted. “I need nothing of yours.”
Carillon turned to Duncan. “I will get in, and then I will open one of the smaller gates. I leave it to you to rid yourselves of the Solindish guards.” He gestured toward the darkness. “It is but a short distance that way. I will meet you.”
He faded into the shadows. Finn spat out a curse between his teeth and looked as if he had swallowed something sour.
So Carillon wins this round. And I'm annoyed again that these two actually have better chemistry than Alix and Duncan. I feel like Ms. Roberson could have easily decided to explore this dynamic instead of making Finn a fucking rapist, and the story would have been infinitely better.
As it is, I'm starting to think maybe these two need to get a room.
Anyway, Duncan believes Carillon will do what he says. Finn points out that Carillon is Homanan. And Duncan states that they're not the Cheysuli's enemy. Oh really? What about the FUCKING PURGE? Finn, irritatingly, has the same question. I hate it when Finn is the one who actually makes sense here.
Duncan's response is so legitimately stupid that I want to highlight it:
“It was begun by a single man, not by a nation. It can also be ended by a single man.” Duncan sighed and felt at his tender throat. “Shaine began it. Carillon, I think, is the man who will end it.”
Yeah, Shaine STARTED it. But pretty much every person in the country was a happy participant. If people had decided, I don't know, NOT to kill Cheysuli, Shaine would have been shit out of luck. So while I really hate that I'm saying this, Finn has a FUCKING POINT.
And yes, Carillon probably WILL end the qu'mahlin, but it's not like you've done jack shit to convince him of it, Duncan.
Alix tells Duncan to stop talking and they all go to follow Carillon. The Cheysuli kill the Solindish guards they encounter, which makes Alix squeamish, and she remembers stabbing the Ihlini. She would have run away, if Duncan didn't keep her with him. After the last guard dies, Carillon joins in order to lead them through a culvert, into the palace.
Once there, Duncan takes charge. He orders the men to split up and try not to kill too many of the Mujhar's guards, since they're not truly their enemies. He knows the palace reasonably well, because as Hale's step-son, he'd been to the palace before everything went wrong. Shaine had even called him by name, and bade him serve as well as Hale had done. That's an adorable recollection. But Duncan was five when the qu'mahlin began, so I'm not sure I'd be willing to trust a twenty five year old memory.
Finn notes that he had never been to the palace, and that Carillon can serve as his guide. Conveniently, no one accosts them, even though the presence of the Cheysuli causes a few to become red-faced or frightened. That's fair, given that there's a siege going on, they might have bigger fish to worried about. Though given that they could just as easily be an assassination party, I'm side-eyeing those guards. What if Carillon just decided he wanted a promotion?
So they make it to the audience chamber. Finn calls it "borrowed glory" and claims the place as Cheysuli. Carillon leads the way into the room, where Shaine sits on his throne. He confronts Shaine, calling him a fool.
Shaine of course takes that about as well as we'd expect, telling him not to speak until he has proper words of respect. This leads into a confrontation that's much more satisfying than the one Alix had with him toward the start of the novel. Carillon basically calls him out for failing Homana and hiding safe in the walls of the palace while others die.
The back and forth is interrupted by someone else though, in a fine bit of drama:
Before Shaine could reply a quiet voice echoed down the hall. “And I want you alive as well, Shaine the Mujhar. Else I cannot have the pleasure of taking your life.”
It's Finn. And as much as I hate the guy, this feels pretty earned. Finn is Hale's son, after all, and unlike Alix, he'd lived through the qu'mahlin. Duncan holds Alix back from interfering, believing this is Finn's tahlmorra
I wonder if tahlmorra actually just translates to "what is narratively satisfying". But then if that were the case, Alix's tahlmorra would be punching Duncan in the junk. I really hate giving Roberson credit, but I have to admit, this confrontation is kind of amazing. There's a palpable sense of drama here. And Shaine seems to feel it too:
Finn stopped before the dais. He waited.
Shaine stared at him. Color drained from his face until only a death mask remained. His lips were bluish; hands shaking. An inarticulate sound burst from his throat. Then he swallowed visibly and forced a single word between his lips.
“Hale.”
And we're back to Hale and Lindir again. But this time it actually means something, as Shaine babbles his justifications and Finn calmly shoots them down. He's fascinatingly polite about it too, calling Shaine "my lord". (This makes sense, as he's deliberately evoking his father here.) This scene deserves a better book. One in which Finn and Alix's mutual heritage as the children of the man who unwittingly brought the qu'mahlin down on their heads and eventually became a victim himself was actually treated as a relevant part of the plot.
Carillon tries to interrupt, and Finn shuts him down, calling this "a thing between men" And for once, I think he's right. Carillon is a boy. Eighteen years old. He hadn't even been born when this all started. And he's largely innocent of the qu'mahlin, except for repeating the lies he was taught. This is about the man who started it, and the man standing as proxy for its first victim.
At this point, Shaine's pretty much lost it. And he loses it more when he realizes that there are more Cheysuli in the castle. He pulls a silk bag from the stone and empties it, revealing blue cubes. They're wards, which had been given to him by Hale forty years ago. They're what keep the Ihlini out of the castle.
And this is kind of irksome. Because we only JUST heard about the wards last chapter. If they are Cheysuli made, then why didn't Duncan know about them? If Duncan didn't know about them, because he'd been too young at the time and the knowledge was lost, why didn't we see any surprise or shock at their existence?
It would have taken two seconds to have a moment where Alix or Duncan look at the castle and say "that's Cheysuli magic! But how did it get here?"
Anyway, Shaine lived a genocidal maniac and he dies like one: he throws the wards into the fire before anyone can act. He sees Alix and starts ranting. Finn tries to stab him, Carillon intercedes, and then Shaine has some sort of fit and collapses.
He's dead.
Then a passage happens that utterly infuriated me the first time I read it. And not for the usual reasons. I'll share it here in its entirety.
For a long moment Finn looked down upon the body stretched by the firepit. Then he turned and stared at the throne a very long time. Finally he looked back at Carillon and stretched out a restraining hand as the prince moved away.
“No,” he said.
Carillon frowned at him. “I go only to tell the guardsmen their lord is slain.”
“The old lord is slain,” Finn said clearly.
“Because of you!” the prince snapped.
Finn looked down at the knife in his hand as if surprised to see it. For a moment he seemed bewildered. Then he glanced back at Duncan.
Alix felt the intensity of their locked gazes and looked from one to the other, shaken. But she did not interfere.
Finn smiled. Something in his face had surrendered. When he looked again at Carillon he seemed resigned. Swiftly he flipped the knife in his hand and slid the point beneath the underflesh of his forearm. Alix winced as blood welled quickly around the blade, staining it.
“Is this expiation for a dead Mujhar?” Carillon asked harshly.
Finn did not answer. He dropped to one knee, head bowed. “It is Cheysuli custom, my lord, that the Mujhar is ever attended by a liege man.” A deep breath lifted his shoulders briefly. “Fifty years ago Hale of the Cheysuli swore a blood-oath to take Shaine the Mujhar as his liege lord until death.” His eyes moved to Carillon’s face as he held out the knife, hilt first. “If you will have it…if you will accept it, my lord Carillon…I offer you the same service.”
Carillon, staring at the kneeling warrior in absolute astonishment, slowly opened his mouth.
“I?”
“You are the Mujhar. The Mujhar must have a Cheysuli liege man.” Finn smiled without his customary irony. “It is tradition, my lord.”
“Cheysuli tradition.”
Finn remained unmoving. “Will you accept my service?”
Carillon threw out both hands, flinging water across the dais. “By the gods, Finn, we have never met without railing at one another like jackdaws!”
Finn’s mouth twisted. “It is unsettling for a Cheysuli to recognize his own tahlmorra when he wants no part of it. What else would you expect me to do?” He waited, then sighed. “Do you accept me, or do you refuse me the sort of honor my jehan ever respected?”
Carillon stared down at him. “Well…I cannot have you bleeding all over the floor. Although once I said I would see the color of your blood.”
Finn nodded. “If you see much more, I will have nothing left to spare in your service.”
Carillon smiled and held out his hand. The hilt was placed in it, and he accepted the knife without comment. Then he drew his own, slid Finn’s blade home in his sheath, and gave the Cheysuli his own untarnished knife.
“A blood-oath is binding,” he said quietly. “Even I know that.”
Finn rose, shrugging. “It is only binding until it is broken, my lord. But that has only been done once before.” He smiled crookedly. “And you have seen the result.”
Isn't it funny how Finn is suddenly a brand new character in this scene?
I've said before that one of the worst parts of Shapechangers for me, even as a kid, was how it utterly destroyed a man who was actually my favorite character in subsequent books. Possibly my favorite character in the entire damn series.
Finn.
And I've always winced at admitting that throughout these reviews for obvious reasons. Finn is fucking terrible. He's a rapist who will not leave Alix alone, even knowing she's his sister, even knowing she's terrified of him. He thinks only with his libido and even then, barely.
And I accepted that, reluctantly. Shapechangers' Finn is Shapechangers' Finn. I figured that when Roberson realized that she wanted to make the Chronicles of the Cheysuli as a generational saga, she decided to redesign Finn as a character that better suited the role of right hand man to a king. That's how I rationalized the difference between the characters.
But this scene destroys that fantasy. Because this one scene, in the penultimate chapter of this fucking book, shows me MY Finn. THIS is the man in Song of Homana. THIS is the man in Legacy of the Sword. Roberson could have written this man all along. But she chose not to. Worse, she may believe that this IS the man she's been writing all along.
I can't get over that. And I can't forgive it either. Without this scene, I could just ignore Shapechangers as an aberration, a terrible little introduction to a much better (if admittedly flawed) series. But this little bit of Song of Homana makes it impossible to separate this fucking wretched book from what comes after. Fuck everything.
The OTHER infuriating thing is that I can see what she's doing in this scene and it's actually executed really well. If we pretend Finn wasn't a rapist, if he was instead the character Roberson seems to think she'd written: a roguish hothead who uses sardonic humor to mask perpetual trauma-born anger, then this would be a really powerful example of WHY the Cheysuli are so big on tahlmorra. Because we can see the point where Finn stops fighting it. We can see how, in that moment, he's able to let go of the anger that's fueled him, and just be the calm, confident person he's always been meant to be. All he had to do was accept his destiny. If that's what tahlmorra feels like to every Cheysuli, then of course they're going to try to follow it.
But she made him an unrepentant rapist, and therefore it's really fucking hard to appreciate this moment of transformation.
The scene continues a little past with reactions: Carillon is stunned, Duncan bemused, and Alix is starting to see the humor in it. It's time to go though, because with the wards gone, the Ihlini are going to breach the castle. And the chapter ends.
Now I'm going to go throw this book across the room, again.
But now, they're going to the palace to save a genocidal king from...honestly I'm not sure why they're trying to save the genocidal king when they've got the much less genocidal heir RIGHT HERE, but honestly that's the least of my complaints about this book.
So we start out with Duncan, Carillon and Alix finding shelter in the shadow of the walls of the palace. Somehow this allows them to avoid Solindish soldiers that have sprouted up into existence for this chapter. (Even though it would have made sense to see them before!) There are too many Ihlini around for Duncan to use his powers, and even Alix can feel the weakness.
Fortunately, Carillon played here as a child and knows all the secrets of the palace. Duncan tells Alix to use her talent to summon the lir, as they'll bring the other warriors. Alix is worried, because he'd implied before that magic use could hurt her baby, but he tells her there's no choice.
He's not wrong here, but I still hate him.
Alix manages to reach out and connect to Storr before she nearly faints. Storr is going to tell the other lir, which FINALLY answers the question about whether or not lir communicate with each other. It would have been nice to learn this before the second to last chapter. But whatever, I'm almost through this nonsense.
Carillon and Duncan choose this moment for a macho pissing contest:
Carillon flicked a dark glance at Duncan. “I would not use her so, shapechanger.”
Duncan’s face hardened. “It is for your sake I asked it, princeling.”
Alix put a hand up and pushed herself away from the wall, straightening her tired shoulders. “Enough of this. If you wish Homana reconciled with her Cheysuli forebears, you will have to begin with yourselves.” She glared at them. “Yourselves!”
Carillon looked guilty. Duncan, mouth twisting in Finn’s ironic manner, nodded to himself.
1. Carillon, stop being a macho idiot. Also stop with the racial epithets.
2. Are you really doing this for CARILLON'S sake, Duncan? Because I seem to recall you wanting to leave the guy in fucking captivity, and would have if Alix didn't force your hand.
3. Do these guys really WANT to reconcile the races? Carillon won't even verbally commit to the idea that he'd end his uncle's purges. And Duncan doesn't believe in rescuing the dude who could POSSIBLY end the purge.
4. It is interesting that Carillon is the one who looks guilty here. That's a good sign.
5. And of course it's Alix, who almost fainted a moment ago, who has to act like an adult and get her thirty year old husband to stop fighting with an eighteen year old.
Anyway, Storr arrives, with Finn, who has blood on his jerkin and a victorious glint in his eye. At least someone's having fun a-murdering. He notices Duncan's neck and expresses actual concern, albeit masked by a wisecrack. They have some actually endearing banter about Duncan "growing voiceless" and whether or not Finn might prefer him that way.
And for one moment, Ms. Roberson seems to remember that Alix might actually have some lingering trauma over the experiences of this book: "The others had gathered. Alix saw not a single warrior was missing. She wondered, in remembered horror, how many men lay dead at shapechanger hands.".
I'm so used to the book brushing off Alix's experiences that this feels out of place.
Anyway, Duncan wants to go help Shaine. Finn asks how, pointing out that they can't shapechange. But Duncan notes that Carillon will let them in. And Finn and Carillon have another moment:
Duncan gestured to Carillon. “The prince has said he can get us in.”
Finn’s face expressed doubt. No one else moved, but Alix sensed their unspoken disbelief.
Then Carillon shifted against the wall and stood upright.
“You have little enough reason to trust me. It would be a simple matter for me to let you in and lead you into a trap of the Mujhar’s making.” He smiled grimly. “While I have not precisely been your enemy, neither have I been your ally.”
“I think we are in agreement for the first time, princeling,” Finn said in careful condescension.
Carillon, to Alix’s surprise, appeared unoffended. He smiled calmly at Finn. “You need my aid, shapechanger. Mine.”
Finn grunted. “I need nothing of yours.”
Carillon turned to Duncan. “I will get in, and then I will open one of the smaller gates. I leave it to you to rid yourselves of the Solindish guards.” He gestured toward the darkness. “It is but a short distance that way. I will meet you.”
He faded into the shadows. Finn spat out a curse between his teeth and looked as if he had swallowed something sour.
So Carillon wins this round. And I'm annoyed again that these two actually have better chemistry than Alix and Duncan. I feel like Ms. Roberson could have easily decided to explore this dynamic instead of making Finn a fucking rapist, and the story would have been infinitely better.
As it is, I'm starting to think maybe these two need to get a room.
Anyway, Duncan believes Carillon will do what he says. Finn points out that Carillon is Homanan. And Duncan states that they're not the Cheysuli's enemy. Oh really? What about the FUCKING PURGE? Finn, irritatingly, has the same question. I hate it when Finn is the one who actually makes sense here.
Duncan's response is so legitimately stupid that I want to highlight it:
“It was begun by a single man, not by a nation. It can also be ended by a single man.” Duncan sighed and felt at his tender throat. “Shaine began it. Carillon, I think, is the man who will end it.”
Yeah, Shaine STARTED it. But pretty much every person in the country was a happy participant. If people had decided, I don't know, NOT to kill Cheysuli, Shaine would have been shit out of luck. So while I really hate that I'm saying this, Finn has a FUCKING POINT.
And yes, Carillon probably WILL end the qu'mahlin, but it's not like you've done jack shit to convince him of it, Duncan.
Alix tells Duncan to stop talking and they all go to follow Carillon. The Cheysuli kill the Solindish guards they encounter, which makes Alix squeamish, and she remembers stabbing the Ihlini. She would have run away, if Duncan didn't keep her with him. After the last guard dies, Carillon joins in order to lead them through a culvert, into the palace.
Once there, Duncan takes charge. He orders the men to split up and try not to kill too many of the Mujhar's guards, since they're not truly their enemies. He knows the palace reasonably well, because as Hale's step-son, he'd been to the palace before everything went wrong. Shaine had even called him by name, and bade him serve as well as Hale had done. That's an adorable recollection. But Duncan was five when the qu'mahlin began, so I'm not sure I'd be willing to trust a twenty five year old memory.
Finn notes that he had never been to the palace, and that Carillon can serve as his guide. Conveniently, no one accosts them, even though the presence of the Cheysuli causes a few to become red-faced or frightened. That's fair, given that there's a siege going on, they might have bigger fish to worried about. Though given that they could just as easily be an assassination party, I'm side-eyeing those guards. What if Carillon just decided he wanted a promotion?
So they make it to the audience chamber. Finn calls it "borrowed glory" and claims the place as Cheysuli. Carillon leads the way into the room, where Shaine sits on his throne. He confronts Shaine, calling him a fool.
Shaine of course takes that about as well as we'd expect, telling him not to speak until he has proper words of respect. This leads into a confrontation that's much more satisfying than the one Alix had with him toward the start of the novel. Carillon basically calls him out for failing Homana and hiding safe in the walls of the palace while others die.
The back and forth is interrupted by someone else though, in a fine bit of drama:
Before Shaine could reply a quiet voice echoed down the hall. “And I want you alive as well, Shaine the Mujhar. Else I cannot have the pleasure of taking your life.”
It's Finn. And as much as I hate the guy, this feels pretty earned. Finn is Hale's son, after all, and unlike Alix, he'd lived through the qu'mahlin. Duncan holds Alix back from interfering, believing this is Finn's tahlmorra
I wonder if tahlmorra actually just translates to "what is narratively satisfying". But then if that were the case, Alix's tahlmorra would be punching Duncan in the junk. I really hate giving Roberson credit, but I have to admit, this confrontation is kind of amazing. There's a palpable sense of drama here. And Shaine seems to feel it too:
Finn stopped before the dais. He waited.
Shaine stared at him. Color drained from his face until only a death mask remained. His lips were bluish; hands shaking. An inarticulate sound burst from his throat. Then he swallowed visibly and forced a single word between his lips.
“Hale.”
And we're back to Hale and Lindir again. But this time it actually means something, as Shaine babbles his justifications and Finn calmly shoots them down. He's fascinatingly polite about it too, calling Shaine "my lord". (This makes sense, as he's deliberately evoking his father here.) This scene deserves a better book. One in which Finn and Alix's mutual heritage as the children of the man who unwittingly brought the qu'mahlin down on their heads and eventually became a victim himself was actually treated as a relevant part of the plot.
Carillon tries to interrupt, and Finn shuts him down, calling this "a thing between men" And for once, I think he's right. Carillon is a boy. Eighteen years old. He hadn't even been born when this all started. And he's largely innocent of the qu'mahlin, except for repeating the lies he was taught. This is about the man who started it, and the man standing as proxy for its first victim.
At this point, Shaine's pretty much lost it. And he loses it more when he realizes that there are more Cheysuli in the castle. He pulls a silk bag from the stone and empties it, revealing blue cubes. They're wards, which had been given to him by Hale forty years ago. They're what keep the Ihlini out of the castle.
And this is kind of irksome. Because we only JUST heard about the wards last chapter. If they are Cheysuli made, then why didn't Duncan know about them? If Duncan didn't know about them, because he'd been too young at the time and the knowledge was lost, why didn't we see any surprise or shock at their existence?
It would have taken two seconds to have a moment where Alix or Duncan look at the castle and say "that's Cheysuli magic! But how did it get here?"
Anyway, Shaine lived a genocidal maniac and he dies like one: he throws the wards into the fire before anyone can act. He sees Alix and starts ranting. Finn tries to stab him, Carillon intercedes, and then Shaine has some sort of fit and collapses.
He's dead.
Then a passage happens that utterly infuriated me the first time I read it. And not for the usual reasons. I'll share it here in its entirety.
For a long moment Finn looked down upon the body stretched by the firepit. Then he turned and stared at the throne a very long time. Finally he looked back at Carillon and stretched out a restraining hand as the prince moved away.
“No,” he said.
Carillon frowned at him. “I go only to tell the guardsmen their lord is slain.”
“The old lord is slain,” Finn said clearly.
“Because of you!” the prince snapped.
Finn looked down at the knife in his hand as if surprised to see it. For a moment he seemed bewildered. Then he glanced back at Duncan.
Alix felt the intensity of their locked gazes and looked from one to the other, shaken. But she did not interfere.
Finn smiled. Something in his face had surrendered. When he looked again at Carillon he seemed resigned. Swiftly he flipped the knife in his hand and slid the point beneath the underflesh of his forearm. Alix winced as blood welled quickly around the blade, staining it.
“Is this expiation for a dead Mujhar?” Carillon asked harshly.
Finn did not answer. He dropped to one knee, head bowed. “It is Cheysuli custom, my lord, that the Mujhar is ever attended by a liege man.” A deep breath lifted his shoulders briefly. “Fifty years ago Hale of the Cheysuli swore a blood-oath to take Shaine the Mujhar as his liege lord until death.” His eyes moved to Carillon’s face as he held out the knife, hilt first. “If you will have it…if you will accept it, my lord Carillon…I offer you the same service.”
Carillon, staring at the kneeling warrior in absolute astonishment, slowly opened his mouth.
“I?”
“You are the Mujhar. The Mujhar must have a Cheysuli liege man.” Finn smiled without his customary irony. “It is tradition, my lord.”
“Cheysuli tradition.”
Finn remained unmoving. “Will you accept my service?”
Carillon threw out both hands, flinging water across the dais. “By the gods, Finn, we have never met without railing at one another like jackdaws!”
Finn’s mouth twisted. “It is unsettling for a Cheysuli to recognize his own tahlmorra when he wants no part of it. What else would you expect me to do?” He waited, then sighed. “Do you accept me, or do you refuse me the sort of honor my jehan ever respected?”
Carillon stared down at him. “Well…I cannot have you bleeding all over the floor. Although once I said I would see the color of your blood.”
Finn nodded. “If you see much more, I will have nothing left to spare in your service.”
Carillon smiled and held out his hand. The hilt was placed in it, and he accepted the knife without comment. Then he drew his own, slid Finn’s blade home in his sheath, and gave the Cheysuli his own untarnished knife.
“A blood-oath is binding,” he said quietly. “Even I know that.”
Finn rose, shrugging. “It is only binding until it is broken, my lord. But that has only been done once before.” He smiled crookedly. “And you have seen the result.”
Isn't it funny how Finn is suddenly a brand new character in this scene?
I've said before that one of the worst parts of Shapechangers for me, even as a kid, was how it utterly destroyed a man who was actually my favorite character in subsequent books. Possibly my favorite character in the entire damn series.
Finn.
And I've always winced at admitting that throughout these reviews for obvious reasons. Finn is fucking terrible. He's a rapist who will not leave Alix alone, even knowing she's his sister, even knowing she's terrified of him. He thinks only with his libido and even then, barely.
And I accepted that, reluctantly. Shapechangers' Finn is Shapechangers' Finn. I figured that when Roberson realized that she wanted to make the Chronicles of the Cheysuli as a generational saga, she decided to redesign Finn as a character that better suited the role of right hand man to a king. That's how I rationalized the difference between the characters.
But this scene destroys that fantasy. Because this one scene, in the penultimate chapter of this fucking book, shows me MY Finn. THIS is the man in Song of Homana. THIS is the man in Legacy of the Sword. Roberson could have written this man all along. But she chose not to. Worse, she may believe that this IS the man she's been writing all along.
I can't get over that. And I can't forgive it either. Without this scene, I could just ignore Shapechangers as an aberration, a terrible little introduction to a much better (if admittedly flawed) series. But this little bit of Song of Homana makes it impossible to separate this fucking wretched book from what comes after. Fuck everything.
The OTHER infuriating thing is that I can see what she's doing in this scene and it's actually executed really well. If we pretend Finn wasn't a rapist, if he was instead the character Roberson seems to think she'd written: a roguish hothead who uses sardonic humor to mask perpetual trauma-born anger, then this would be a really powerful example of WHY the Cheysuli are so big on tahlmorra. Because we can see the point where Finn stops fighting it. We can see how, in that moment, he's able to let go of the anger that's fueled him, and just be the calm, confident person he's always been meant to be. All he had to do was accept his destiny. If that's what tahlmorra feels like to every Cheysuli, then of course they're going to try to follow it.
But she made him an unrepentant rapist, and therefore it's really fucking hard to appreciate this moment of transformation.
The scene continues a little past with reactions: Carillon is stunned, Duncan bemused, and Alix is starting to see the humor in it. It's time to go though, because with the wards gone, the Ihlini are going to breach the castle. And the chapter ends.
Now I'm going to go throw this book across the room, again.
no subject
URGH
There is so much smashing that would need to be done to make this book not terrible.
no subject
Velriset: Time to finish this up, then!
I am truly not feeling the rising tension here.
“It was begun by a single man, not by a nation. It can also be ended by a single man.” Duncan sighed and felt at his tender throat. “Shaine began it. Carillon, I think, is the man who will end it.”
I literally do not see how that argument is even supposed to work.
...that was quite easy, once again. Not that I want to complain about not dragging the book out, of course.
What a pity that the confrontation was in this book!
He pulls a silk bag from the stone and empties it, revealing blue cubes. They're wards, which had been given to him by Hale forty years ago. They're what keep the Ihlini out of the castle.
So why did he not throw those wards away in the meantime?! How would he have known that they would be useful some day?
Finn tries to stab him, Carillon intercedes, and then Shaine has some sort of fit and collapses.
Alright then. That was quite sudden!
I can kind of see it, since if Roberson wanted to keep Finn around, he should have improved, but this... I would almost think that Shaine cursed him because he was Hale's son, and now he gets to have his own personality back! (That would also make for a great plot point.) It is quite weird indeed!
no subject