Night 5: Tracing Lines

This is a point at which, in inspecting the previous chapters along with this one, a broad description becomes somewhat bland. On the face of it, this is another chapter that jus accounts a few introductions and confirmations; it follows up on the pawprint and howl as well as first mentioning the ‘Good Doctor’ who most people will likely recognize. But the true strength of it comes across in the exchanges between Snuff, Graymalk, and Nightwind since exchanges like that are a large part of what makes the story interesting. This is the first time we really see players in the Game — or the familiars, rather — go at it in full business mode. The first time that there’s three different people all meeting for a trade of information. None of them know whose side the others are on, but they remain civil and true to their word because that’s how the Game is played. You have to be honorable about it, even if you’re going to try and kill each other before the month is out. And all the more because even if Snuff — and by extension Jack — have a very ‘what will be will be’ attitude to their allies and enemies, you can pick up on the way that the others are calculating the implications of knowledge known and associations. Things like Nightwind trying to determine if Snuff and Graymalk’s arrival together means they’re on the same side and then if that side is the same as his. This is all the first sign of a lot of the scheming that really goes on over the course of the book and it’s fun.