Thus far in The Aspect Emperor series, the rule's been that chapters set in and around the empire's capital of Momemn are rather dull. This tedium doesn't come from a lack of interesting characters or compelling situations, there are plenty of each in them, but we're given no real foothold. Writing as someone who started with The Judging Eye rather than The Darkness That Comes Before, I really felt that any thing based in Momemn was a slog in itself to get through - I just want more Achamian and Mimara, and more Sorwa.
That all changed in chapter twelve. Esmenet set out with her trusted Imhailas to hire an assassin to kill her brother-in-law, and while she's out the palace is invaded by his forces. This forces her into hiding, and where better to hide an empress than with a whore. Of course, the whole situation is complicated by the fact that the whore Imhailas brings her to is his own, and this forces Esmenet to re-confront her own past as a prostitute and how she sold her only daughter into the same life to survive a famine.
Bakker can truly write battle scenes and searching philosophical sections, but this chapter has the same feel as much of A Song of Ice and Fire. Why? Because Bakker finally gives depth to some characters while building up proper back stories for others.
Doing these two things finally makes the characters in the most character-driven sections of the series (so far as I've read it) come to life where before they seemed almost like puppets on a string. Now we've just to see how they can dance without that sort of guidance.
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