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"There is no struggle too vast, no odds too overwhelming,
for even should we fail �� should we fall
�� we will know that we have lived."
Anomander Rake
Son of Darkness

I have just one problem with this book, and that is its slowness, this book is so damn slow, this book could have been better if it was 500 pages shorter, I will read and read yet nothing is happening, it made the reading experience not as fun as the previous ones, I have to admit I was bored at some point, which is the first time since I started this series.
The unnecessary descriptions of morning and evenings got tiring after the first few times, I started skimming the rest, don’t even get me started on the weather. It would have been better if he had adopted the writing style of GoTM or MT, that a part is dedicated to one location, then they all meet at the final part.

Speak truth, grow still, until the water is
clear between us.
Meditations of the Tiste Andii

Moving on to things I love in this book. One we are back to Darujhistan, we’ve heard almost nothing from this city since GoTM, the first book, another location is Black Coral which is now ruled by the Anomander, so the Andiis live there with some humans. We also have few other locations and some new characters which would be discussed in the character section.

Survivors do not mourn together. They each mourn alone, even when in the same place. Grief is the most solitary of all feelings. Grief isolates, and every ritual, every gesture, every embrace, is a hopeless effort to break through that isolation.

Characters
If you are spoiler sensitive or haven’t read the first 7 books, I suggest you jump this section, cause even though I won’t mention spoilers I would mention character names which would tell you who made it this far in the series.

Darujhistan
Here we have Kruppe,Murillio,Coll, Rallick Nom and the rest of the usuals of Pheonix inn. Cutter and Torvald Nom are back to the city,with Scillara, Barathol and Chaur. Stonny now resides there and the remaining retired Bridgeburners that own K’rul’s bar and finally Baruk and Lady Envy.

Nothing much happened with those at Phoenix inn, just the usual, the rest is spoilers, as usual politics and fight for council seat is as hot as ever, an asshole named Gorlas Vidikas really caused trouble for my loved characters.(view spoiler)[ Gorlas killed Murillio in a duel but Cutter killed him, Cutter is so badass now but still love and misses Apsalar, she sent him a message and told him to come met her (hide spoiler)] Cutter is as lost as ever, also very pessimistic, Barathol is trying to start a new life same as Scillara. The bridgeburners have some assassin issues, those scenes were one if my favourite in the whole book. Stonny part wasn’t that fun, she was more bitchy than before.

Sacrifice must be weighed by the pain of what is surrendered, and this alone was the true measure of a virtue's worth.

Black Coral
To say the Tiste Andiis are hopeless is an understatement, Mother Dark’s rejection made them all turn to my beloved Anomander for everything, the weight on his shoulders, no wonder he is the way he is. So glad he has people like Spinnock Durav an Andii who would do anything for him, even die if Anomander asks *tears* and Endest Silann, just get ready to have watery eyes or tear up anytime you read his part, its just so sad. The ending part for these three is just so...., I just can’t find an appropriate word to describe it. (view spoiler)[ Anomander sacrificed himself and died to give his people hope, since he is the gate to Kurald Galain, he merged his soul with that of the gate in Dragnipur and made Black Coral a gate to their realm *wipes tears* Spinnock distracted Karllor from getting there to steal the sword and almost died, Endest Silann also helped stopped a dying god from taking over the Andiiis who wanted to pry on their vulnerability when Anomander was doing this. (hide spoiler)]

People now worship Itkovian and calls him the redeemer, as a new god things are not so easy, some bastards try to pry on that, the rest is spoilers.

Others
My beloved Nimander and co, Skintick, Destra, Nenanda, Aranatha and Kedaviss, how I love this lot. Nimander is so humble and has a low self esteem, I don’t blame him, life hasn’t exactly being kind to him, but despite this he is noble and is willing to die for his love ones, even strangers if need be, no wonder they follow and love him.

'"Emotions are the spawn of true motivations, whether those motivations be conscious or otherwise",' said Nimander.

Karsa, Samar and Traveller made this book more fun, the dialogue between Karsa and Samar is one of one favourites in the book, and guess what they are also heading to Darujhistan.

Gruntle, Mappo and the Trygalle trade guild were in this but their parts was the slowest and boring, if not for the dialogue between the Bole brothers I might have skimmed these parts.

'It's against the law to look in someone else's bag.'
'Swamp law. Does this look like a swamp?'
'That doesn't matter. You broke the law. Anyway, what you found was my spare moccasin.'
'Your one spare moccasin?'
'That's right.'
'Then why was it full of my love notes?'
'What love notes?'
'The ones me and her been writing back and forth. The ones I hid in my moccasin. Those ones, Jula.'
'What's obvious now is just how many times you been breaking the law. Because you been hiding your love notes �� which you write to yourself and nobody else �� you been hiding them in my spare moccasin!'
'Not that you'd ever look.'
'But I might, if I knew about it.'
'You didn't though, did you? Besides, you don't have a spare moccasin, because I stole it.'
'And that's why I stole it back!'
'You can't steal back what you didn't know was stolen in the first place. That's just stealing. And stealing's against the law.'
'Swamp law.'

Harllo,(view spoiler)[ Harllo is the son of Stonny, she got pregnant after that rape in Capustan, she named him after Harllo her friend (hide spoiler)]Bainisk and Bellam Nom are new characters that have managed to crip into my heart and top my favourites.

Plot
There is a prophecy about a convergence in Darujhistan that would involve Anomander, Lady Envy and Spite her sister, The hounds of Shadows and Light, Karsa, Samar, Traveller, Iskaral Pust and many others.