The pacing starts off well with this chapter. I am a fan of longer chapters because it forces you to read more, especially if the story is good. So far the author has dropped some appealing looking nuggets to introduce the world. Already I think there are some puns being introduced. The evil force, and antagonists for this book are the corelings, demons who materialize from the ground to slaughter humanity. My educated guess is that they materialize from the heat of the Earth, given the following explanations.
'Coreling' reminds me of a couple of things. A character from John Gwynne's Faithful and the Fallen series named Coralen (who happened to be a hot head and quick to anger), The process of coring, where heated alloys cool in non-equilibrium conditions and nonuniformly, essentially being the name of a process or effect that you 'don't want' when processing metal, and often happens in materials with small zones for both liquidus and solidus. When working with crystals in zone refining- Coring is actually desired. But enough of the technical gobble-dee-goop.
Coreling also appears to be either a brand or type of metal that is made into a variety of things. A 'core sample' is a cylindrical sample of material, usually rock. Scientists can then analyze the composition of the sample. A 'core' itself is an interior zone; in anatomy it's the center of the body minus appendages, the center of something such as a Galaxy or a planet or star; the inner most layer, so on and so forth. I think you may get the idea. My theory is that Corelings are coming from the core of the Earth, but obviously there is more to it.
The town of Brook... I can't quite remember its name off the top of my head- was attacked overnight by the Coreling and lost almost three dozen people. Those that survived have problems- but it isn't clear yet why. Perhaps they were so terrified that they preferred a quick death- but I fail to see any kind of rational thinking in their 'rationale' of pure panic and madness. There isn't time to process the dead, so the bodies are thrown onto a pyre. Par for the course for some darker fantasy. Tame, nothing 'lung puncturing' yet.
We are introduced to Arlen, an 11 year old from this town that still has some innocence left in him, despite the traumas he has faced in life. We're introduced to the idea of freedom and fighting to protect something important, both very noble goals and ones that Arlen will learn to focus on. Like any young child, he is curious about the free cities and the world outside of his hobble- living with a hard but well meaning town chief and an authoritarian mother who doesn't like people 'talking back' to her.
You know. Questioning things. Questioning authority. It is discouraged- and a lot of older folks, and/or people full of themselves tend to get angry when questioned, though the anger may not be mutual, and it could be on just one or both, sides of an argument. Today's world will tear people apart who demand respect and prestige, especially when not deserved. But I am driving off on a tangent.
Arlen learns of a messenger come to town named Regan who is tasked to visit the local general store with Arlen to convince the owner to 'do his part' for the village, lest if the village go mad, or someone wants to harm him or do something to his wares, the head of the town would look the other way. Regan delivers some bad news and haggles his wares from the guild as we find out in a wholesome manner that Arlen is given some alcohol and it hits him pretty good.
We learn about wards, or as I like to call them- 'runes' which protect people from the Coreling when painted on a surface such as a structure. The coach Regan is riding has a fairly substantial ward with 40 pieces tied to a rope. When he talks about the other cities, he explains how big the world really is to Arlen, who can't comprehend such things, and explains that humanity depends on one another in order to both survive and thrive.
Well this grand old story takes a DARK, DARK turn very quickly. Not quite a fall of the cliff but close enough. Arlen did everything he could to fulfill the shopkeep's promise, but ultimately failed when he had too much to do. The messenger saw to it anyways. Apart from the jester show Arlen went home with a bag of salt. That probably earned him a few brownie points. Foreshadowing can be a bitch- because on the way home a nasty storm is coming and the only image I can see in my mind is the episode of King of the Hill when the tornado hits Luane's trailer park. You know- the kind of wind where it blows the world's strongest umbrella inside out and lashes it out of view miles away. They get everything packed inside and crossed the wards when stupid exclaims 'I left the dog leashed to the fencepost!' (that's what she said). One of the women seeking succor heads out and unleashes the dog, which bee lines it for the home. Following stupid is Silvy.
They try to make it back, both stupid and Silvy- and stupid has a derp and falls and breaks an ankle or something. They argue for a few seconds, and before Silvy can get away a little fiery bitch gremlin demon from hell, about as tall as Kirby or Pikachu begins stabbing her in the back with claws. This is where we begin to see Arlen becoming more of a man, reaching his threshhold of 'I have had enough of this' as he smacks the shit out of the fiery vixen with whatever was closeby. It did not take too kindly to this and spit at everyone, coating stupid in flames and burning both Arlen and his mother. They bolt for the safety of the pig pen, another brave move trying to keep Silvy moving along, all while father Jeph just stares like a deer in headlights. They make it through the gate, which remains open but the corelings can not cross the barrier. So they give up, head back to stupid as big old Golem coraling picks her up and smacks her around like a caveman and his club. I don't know if he digests homo sapiens, but the foot and a half tall fire coraling sure do, tearing her apart, skittering away with their prize and eating.
We've all been in horrible situations like this where we need to just hang in there, albeit not in such a dire circumstance. Me having to walk a mile or two on a broken foot because a parent wasn't man enough to get help, Bearing the 100 degree heat in a house that had no power for over a week, having to hold something when you are in obvious pain. Endurance. For an 11 year old, this kid has his guts in proper alignment. He did his best to take care of his mother and probably borrowed her a little more time.
When the last of the fire frickers fades to mist Arlen bolts for help. They get Silvy inside and get her on the wagon attached to the family mare, who is now pissed as hell that it spent all night saddled and raddled up. It's a trip to the town doctor now- and I sympathize with Arlen more than I do Jeph, the father. Because now on this ride, alone with the man he now has contempt for, he has to endure a necessary and painful event at the cost of potentially saving his mother while Jeph has the chance to hold his son verbally hostage. Conflict brews and we have good old fashioned Daddy issues. Issues from authoritarian parents that question never to talk back. I'm surprised Arlen tolerates his mother, but then again he is still just a boy. One of the good ones for sure.
They travel to the doctor and have to go see someone with greater knowledge days away. The three seek shelter at farmer Harn's house with his beautiful three daughters- Ilain, Bena and Renna. Ilain is in her early to mid 20's, Bena perhaps 16 or so, and Renna 10. They get the help that they need where Arlen is ordered to go off and play with the younger two girls. Keep in mind that girls typically develop through puberty a lot sooner than boys do- which adds to Arlen's confusion and misunderstandings. He learns something that violates his quest for freedom by being shackled to something (or someone) out of his control. As he sneaks off at the behest of the girls, he sneaks into the next room to hear Ilain begging for her life to Jeph, though he does not know it.
This is where the shit starts hitting the proverbial fan. This is also where I give Jeph a little bit of saving grace, but not for long. With their mother dead, the father is molesting his oldest daughter in his wife's place. As Jeph later goes to sleep he is livid at what Harn has done, but he also can't take another mouth to feed with Ilain, who offers to just 'replace' Silvy when she dies. At least that is how Arlen probably saw it- and this misunderstanding, because of his ignorance of the world and quickly ending innocence, what is left of it. I would have been livid myself. Keeping quiet is another thing alltogether- and that gives Arlen time to bottle that sucker up inside which is probably worse than outright storming out and letting his father have it verbally.
I sympathize dearly with Ilain. If she were real it would touch my heart hard. She defends her father, a clear signal of abuse and stockholm syndrome. You know- like Harlequin and the Joker. If I were the character in the book, not knowing the justice system or if anyone would ever find out about it, I would beat his ass to the edge of the wards, knocking him out and rolling him over as the demon's formed. Harn deserves that fate. To call him a pig would be an insult to the momma pig in the barn trying to care for her piglets. He is as much of a monster as the corelings.
With their efforts in vein and a father already pushing the line and on thin ice with his son, he tries to console Arlen by telling him, more or less to toughen up and move on. That may have been the last straw, blurting out his perceived father's iniquities with Ilain as his replacement. And to add insult to injury? the kid is punched. I don't blame him for running away. Now, who does he have an obligation to protect? does he still have friends alive? any duty to the village? his elders? I imagine not. He hates this catastrophe, the hell he is going through, and wish he would have never found out about some of the things he had heard. He wants his normal, his comfort- despite how fucked up it is in the first place. Because now it is worse. Poor kid.
It seems, in the house of Arlen before the point he runs away- that Arlen the boy is the only man of the house and the only man with a pair. Speaking of balls, the author has us now by them. It's a coming of age story thusfar that has gone far south. If the story hasn't done it for you by this point, then trying another book is advisable. There is enough here that I am probably going to finish out the series. We will see. But for now, we can wonder what will happen to young Arlen, especially if he is caught outside the wards at night time. What humanity needs is hope, apparently motivation, and a person or persons to fight against the corelings once more.
Speaking of which. If the corelings are invincible and we're all doomed, then why did one get the piss smacked out of it when Arlen hit it? eh? I hope Brett delivers.
He is all on his own now. It is unknown if Arlen ever got to put his skills into practice, but he will now. I do like how, emotionally he is so drained that when the corelings show frustration that he think it is hillarious. Hopefully he can survive the injuries he has. Most important of all, Arlen learned that the corelings can be harmed. When a ward disappeared and re-appeared it sheared the arm off of a coreling. Interestingly enough, the next night when it appeared again it did not appear regenerated. Arlen is on the road to Miln and the free cities, but he doesn't know if he is going to make it.
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