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His muttering to himself, his odd mix of unabashed pride and awkward not-quite-authentic humility make for a very delightful character. I love the descriptions, with the narrow alleys, the blue glow that makes it like a jewel, and the rooftops just right for thieves and assassins. We get another new slew of characters in this part of the book, so it takes another extra heave of mental investment to get to know them and their motivations and setting.
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MALAZAN FORUMS SERIES
This is where most of the conflict of this book occurs, and a place that the series returns to several times. The switch to the city of Darujhistan has finally happened. Think powerful elves to mortal humans and that's about the relationship I think Erikson is going for. At one point, the Tiste Andii are call the first children of Mother Dark, and through the Deck and Anomander, they've been associated with High House Dark (and the Tiste Edur with the old Shadow realm). I mean, the existence of Topper seems to indicate that they're at least close enough to produce offspring, but so were Tolkien's elves and humans. Though I'm still a little unsure if this means that the Tiste Andii are not human or if its one of those fantasy things like Valyrians in ASoIaF. The blood of a Tiste Andii races in my veins, seeking escape, no doubt, from its more common human stream." (35)
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I think at first I was thinking it was just a cultural difference, but then in chapter one, Topper's dialogue made me pause. I'm assuming they are another race, but my question is are they both human just culturally different, or are they different like humans and elves?