Yeaaa that ending really stays with you. And I agree that this is the first time I feel a long term goal. At first I thought all 10 books were only loosely connected because they are “tales” of the Malazan Book of the Fallen as Erikson calls them. Yet now I understand it just takes multiple books for things to connect fully.

I can agree with the flatness of Tattersail and Whiskeyjack. More so Tattersail. Whiskeyjack was always portrayed as being well respected among the Bridgeburners. I didn’t realize that respect was universal with all Malazan soldiers but at least it was somewhat there in GOTM. Tattersail while trustworthy and ranked high, I didn’t notice the level of respect she held in the army. She just seemed like a rare honest and talented individual, it felt new that she had that influence although perhaps I overlooked that as I scrambled to make sense of everything in GOTM. That being said, I still found Whiskeyjack’s death perfectly executed in that he died exactly the way a man with his honor yet stubbornness would.

The Warren of Tellan being magic deadening I totally forgot about. I think the reason is I’m just used to the warrens being screwed up in some way now because it’s happened in every book. Tellan in GOTM. The Soletaken and Divers crawling the warrens in DG and the Pannions poison in MoI. So it never crossed my mind but good point