Tigana, chapter 4
Tigana Chapter 4
Named characters:
- Tomasso, son of Duke Sandre of Astibar
- Sandre, Duke of Astibar (now in hte coffin)
- Gianno, son of Duke Sandre, Tomasso's older brother
- Taeri, son of Duke Sandre, Tomasso's younger brother
- Fabro and the Canziano family, now eradicated for an assassination attempt in which they were innocent
- Herado, illegitimate son of Gianno
- Scalvaia and Nievole, two lords of Astibar
- Burnet di Corte, another musician (presumably with is own troupe)
- Devin
- Alessan
- Goch, one of the Duke's servants
- Baerd, an armed colleague of Alessan
- Alberico of Barbadior, Tyrant of Astibar, Tregea, Ferraut and Certado
I don't know if moons can be called characters, but they have names: Vidomni is the white one, Ilarion is the blue one.
(1) We had't seen a lot of the consequences of conquest, but mention is made of the Barbadian mercenaries who patrol at night to impose curfew. There is more when we see Alberico's excessive reaction to an assassination attempt. Our sense of Alberico's power and tyranny escalate through this chapter till we meet him ouselves.
(2) It becomes clear that the funeral is a heavily orchestrated political event created deliberately by the dead man.
(3) Tomasso's sixteen-year-old lover was executed "discreetly". How do you execute someone discreetly? Was it made to look like an accident? Or a random crime?
(4) There is a mention of Alberico's invasion involving sorcery. I'm not sure if magic has been mentioned before. Then we hear that sorcerors can't be poisoned.
(5) We learn that the Sandreni palace has been closed up for a long time. A city-state without a heart at its core?
(6) I wonder why the moons are two different colours?
(7) Alessan makes his appearance, through the window. Very Lymondesque. We learn that he is not an ex-shepherd from Tregea, but we don't actually learn who he is, though he says is lineage is old. Alessan believes the fall of Alberico is a necessary step to the death of Brandin, as they are the balance of power in the peninsula.
(8) Alessan changes the balance of the power in the room by showing that he knew what Sandre had arranged, and added security precautions of his own. Then he demands leadership of their cabal.
(9) The text says the morning had changed Devin. Changed in what way? More curious? More reckless? More interested in politics than fun? Thinking less about himself? Or more? And what changed him - knowing that political upheaval was being plotted? Sex with Catriana? A successful performance for a Ducal party?
(10) Devin does "a bit of a flip" when he comes out of the half-loft, and I wondered if he'd had training in dance or actrobatics somewhere along the way. (We know he used to climb trees.)
(11) Alessan seems to have known about, or counted on, his curiosity bringing him there. Or is it more than curiosity? But Devin did not know Alessan would be there.
(12) If I am thinking of Alessan as a Lymond-analogue and Devin as Will Scott, it seems that Catriana would be Christian Stewart - brains and red hair. Are there other analogues I've missed?
(12) We come to the matter of Alessan's real name, which he cannot say. Though I have been drawing Dunnett parallels, here I see a Tolkien touch: "Alessan" isn't far in sound from "Elessar" and Aragorn also had different names, some of which he couldn't speak till an appointed time.
Anyway, this seems to be a sore point with Alessan.
(13) "We can never truly know the paths we have not walked." Paths are important in this book.
(14) Alessan and Tomasso exchange a look which Devin neither forgets nor understands. Alliance against Brandin and Alberico? Prescience? Something else? Why does Devin not forget it - is it just because he doesn't understand it?
(14) I love Alessan's speech: "My third glass of a night is blue. The third glass is always of blue wine. In memory of something lost. Lest on any single night I forget what it is I am alive to do." Coming back to the theme of memory/knowledge issues. We don't know what Alessan needs to remember.
(15) The arrival of Alberico. Nasty. I love them moment when he smashes his fist down on the coffin and smashes the Sandreni arms.
(16) Herado was the traitor. No wonder he was so afraid.
(17) Alberico does a major act of magic to save his life - discorporates and recorportates. I love the way this scene is written: it's really a fairly ordinary sword-and-sorcery scene - someone tries to shoot the magician and the magician saves himself with a burst of magic - but it's written in an unusual way.
(18) So many people in the room are dying that I am starting to think about the ending of Hamlet.
(19) Interesting that we get Alberico's viewpoint for a bit. Frustration. Seems he has his hope of becoming Emperor himself. There are hints that he is a sadist.
(20) Interesting line: "He had just shattered the three most dangerous families left in the Eastern Palm." I wonder about the implications of that. Does he mean there is a family as dangerous in the Western Palm, or that the family that would be dangerous no longer exists?