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TW: abuse, heart-ache of evil and sin’s affects in this world

As in the comedy/humour is from the juxtaposition of the different circumstances (masked men and mysterious red-haired woman with a stick chasing after Logen VS Bayaz getting increasingly annoyed with waiting on the boat and from Jezal pov all he had to worry about was Bayaz getting annoyed with Bayaz saying he’s gonna take a bath as his last chance)

It’s hard not to notice how playfully Abercrombie writes, especially the trick he uses of cutting back-and-forth between 2 (often polar) characters (like going b/w Logen, Glokta, and Jezal, Bayaz in same banquet with different levels of understanding what’s happening). In this case, Logen and Farro in the midst of tense fight/chase vs Jezal distraught but air of lazy waiting on the boat. It’s comedic writing

Jezal is maybe a reforming dandy (to be seen) but still a sap.

New character introduction. Named “Bad Enough” and it is enough as both introduction and descriptor to anticipate this new character’s potential role related to what is currently happening/in the middle of current plot point

Technique: strong internal dialogue/thoughts - also a way to reveal backstory relevant to current events and/or strengthen understanding of character and character motivation (eg during emotionally high/tense plot points such as when Logen visited by dead wife, the big argument between West and Ardee)

Writing notes —
Also worth considering how Abercrombie creates palpable backstories between characters without lengthy explanations (eg folded in during heavy and sometimes comedic character descriptions; story within a story during the play). Other authors use flashbacks for backstory reveal (trade-off is disruption of forward beat) but Abercrombie doesn’t really.

From that commander West was speaking to -> Ardee -> West -> Glokta

And then Ruse (call back from the VERY beginning of the book).

Abercrombie really does character work very very well.

Brilliant. Not only do the plot points come together/crash/clash during the denouement but Abercrombie uses well character revelations (and intertwined relationships between characters) to move the plot and the characters together. Like domino pieces making the next fall in the backdrop of a steady beat

For the first time Glokta says what he thinks.

"Huh. They have no god here."
"Say rather, but they have many."
"Many?"
"Had you now noticed? Here each man worships himself."

I was mistaken. Brother Longfoot is the exception - he is as he seems and he is a better (annoying) character for it and an annoying character who is the better for it.

Author makes sure every character describes Logen as “ugly” at least once and in such a way as if to remind the reader just how physically unappealing he is. As if author anticipates readers forget every so often.

Theme: external appearance belaying internsl character - as if to drive home “don’t judge a book”. But make no mistake, all chars still dark

The illusion crashes - both for the characters’ understanding of their personhood, emotional tension between characters, and plot point reveal. Interesting build-up.

Relatedly, 21st century stories are FILLED with extraordinary / fantasy (arguably a key component of human stories throughout time) though my theory is that people who are especially drawn to this are those who know there must be something more to this life. Who seek miracles but do not know where to look. Misplaced search for the God who created heaven and earth; unfathomable; One beyond human understanding.

People’s disbelief about Jesus’ resurrection to the point of making theories to try to “explain” it. Why follow a God who can only be “explained” by human logic and reality.

Jesus’ last words on the cross
- John 19:26-30
- Luke 23: 29-46
- Mark 15: 33-34
- Matthew 27: 45-46

Scapegoat

““You have to get up every day and seek to live in such a way as to be worthy of that kind of effort and sacrifice” (Major Duckworth on her fellow soldiers saving her). That is the power of sacrificial love. And that is exactly what the cross of Christ is meant to inspire us to do. We are to look at the cross of Jesus and say, “I have to strive to live in such a way as to be worthy of that sacrifice.”"

“Our whole culture is moving in one direction and we find ourselves drawn in doing things we know are not right. Things we know are against God’s will.”

“In a country where you will never be arrested for being a Christian, where you will never be put to death for following Jesus, are you willing, in the face of peer pressure, to be counted as one of His followers?”

Mark 14:62
- “I am”: also a reference to Exodus 3:14 (Moses inquires of the burning bush and God answers “I am who I am”
- “…Son of Man.. coming with the clouds”: Daniel 7:13-14
- “…right hand of Power…”: Psalm 110:1-4(Jesus as prophetic heir of this promise; also Melchizedek)

And Jesus said, “I am, and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.” - Mark 14:62

“Not my will but Yours be done.” Luke 22:42

The skill of writing a plot point (in this case Jezal’s celebration & characters watching a play that serves as a ploy to unmask/trap a key char) from the shifting POV of different chars (Jezal, Glotka, Logen). Readers knows it’s a ploy and there is anticipation and tension; then shifts to Logen’s confusion at the play. All in character, plays with tension and humour and bit of irony. Always irony

Jezal is a big ol’ dandy.

Scratch it - Abercrombie likes to make all his characters suffer. Jazel absurdly and ragingly in love with a woman who despises him because “he’d never had that before” (what a dandy and himself a masochist). Adee mean when she’s drunk and when she’s bored, and she is always bored. Glokta always facing his sworn enemy, stairs.

Author takes pleasure in Logen’s suffering, elite masochist. He reads as both a fierce warrior and an over-used/over-wrung dishrag. Adds to his compelling characterization.

The navigator is also scene-stealer. V strong characterization. “One of my many talents…” “God has seen to bless me with many talents but that (fighting) isn’t one”. humble bragging to all the places he visited. Jumps off the pg

Someone “had to build the house of the maker” smacks of Solomon building the temple. Building of “the rock on which it (the university) stands”. University built to “look into the nature of things”.

“We here are the maker’s disciplines though I doubt they know it upstairs (other academics). He is gone but the work continues.”