“Viv was so used to her very existence being an obvious threat that it was honestly startling to hear a casual joke at her expense, even such a mild one. She supposed clunking around on one leg tended to dull one’s fearsomeness.”

From the moment she engages with the townspeople of Murk, Viv’s sense of identity and place in the world is upended. Murk is helping Viv to break out of her old self. By not treating her as she’s always been treated, friends like Brand—the tavern owner—give Viv the space to discover new aspects of herself.

“A sudden, powerful sense of being left behind swamped Viv. Rackam had dumped her in these misbegotten borderlands, and a wild certainty crawled up from her gut that he never planned to come back this way. It was all a convenient excuse to be rid of a troublesome kid. She gritted her teeth and wrestled that feeling back down into the dark.”

Although Viv hasn’t been with Rackam’s Ravens long, she experiences a strong sense of belonging with the group. Her main fear about recuperating in Murk is that she will be left behind, a vulnerability that comes to the fore several times. At the beginning of the novel, Viv’s identity is centered around her life as a mercenary. When she is left behind, that part of her identity is lost, and she feels untethered.

“While he was gone, she centered Ten Links in the Chain before her and sighed deeply. It felt like giving in to even consider reading it. A tacit admission that she was now a different sort of person. Weak. Soft. Sleepy. Someone who idled and studied, rather than fought and won.”

Viv hasn’t ever read to be lost in a good story and sees reading as a sedentary pastime that contrasts with her usually active work. To her, loss of activity and the acceptance of a more sedentary lifestyle, however temporary, feels like “giving in.” Reading, however, proves to be an important element in Viv’s journey as a character, as it unlocks a different side of her identity.