Galladon is giving Raoden the tour of Elantris. There are three rival gangs who steal food from new arrivals. It's a fairly soft rivalry though, because any violence leading to so much as a scratch is a big problem.
Galladon talks about spending "the next few years" with a broken arm. It turns out he means that after no more than a couple of years the average Elantrian can expect to stop being an active member of the community and spend the rest of eternity curled helplessly in a corner moaning in agony. Nice. At least there is no cannibalism because meat from a person struck with the Shaod tastes bad. At least Sanderson has sidestepped that logical consequence of his worldbuilding. People have eaten all the ancient documents of wisdom and knowledge that were written on velum, however. I bet this causes some problems down the road.
We learn a bit about Raoden's life before ending up here. His best friends are Kiin, Roial and Lukel. They were involved in some sort of conspiracy. He wishes he'd got to meet his betrothed, since he found her witty and interesting on the phone. He assumes she won't find out what happened to him.
I suspect she will find out, and will get in touch with his friends and join their conspiracy. She may even be able to send a floating seon to communicate with him. Perhaps they will all be able to find some solution to the predicament of the Elantrians.
One mystery is the rapid decay of the city. Rocks crumbling too fast; slime and grime building up too fast. No doubt there are well-thought-out reasons for this.
We learn that one of the gang leaders, Karata, has been caught having escaped Elantris, having made it as far as the vicinity of the king's palace, presumably in an attempt to assassinate the king. So escape is possible. I still wonder why people have to be exiled.
Another gang leader, Aanden, may be attempting to "free Elantris". Perhaps I am not the first person to wonder this.
Elantris has indoor plumbing, thanks to magic. Heh.
Raoden sees a seon. It could be a mad seon whose owner has been struck with the Shaod. But it suggests that my plan of Serene sending her seon to find Raoden is plausible. We learn that the missing Ien from chapter one is a seon. Where is Ien?
It turns out Galladon has a hideout in a basement with lots of books. And he can do Elantrian magic. Or at least he can draw letters in the air. Perhaps the situation is not as hopeless as it at first seemed.
No comments:
Post a Comment