nigellicus's review
5.0
Well this kind of blunted the momentum of the series so far. An extended novel-length flashback to when Jant was a young wee immortal not yet hooked on drugs and jumping in and out of the Shift. An Awian colony has been plonked down on the flank of a glacier on the edge of Jant's old home mountain range, but they're killing all the game and starving the local nomadic hunters who don't really have money and don't have borders and who tend to take what they need when they need it. A Rhydanne woman goes to the Castle to petition the Emperor himself, and the Emperor sends Jant to mediate. The Awian governor is the exiled brother of a King, and he's secretly plotting a new coup and not happy for an Immortal to arrive on the eve of his big invasion, nor does he need the distraction of a Rhydanne uprising.
This should be good. It's well-written and the characters are great there's a lot going on, but honestly, it somehow feels stretched out and not terribly interesting. The stakes aren't as high as in the previous books, where big world-threatening Insect invasions were balanced with smaller concerns and there were some big epic battles to keep things lively. Swainston is a superb action writer, and there's one blistering running battle between Awian horseman and Rhydanne hunters, and honestly the book could have done with a bit more of that. There's far more character stuff, and some works better than others. Jant is fairly unlikeable, vain and self-absorbed and often very stupid, getting by on good looks and charisma. His chapters are wearying.
I dunno, maybe if I wasn't ploughing through all the books together I'd like this more, but I didn't want a long flashback, I wanted to find out what happened next after the end of The Modern World. Perhaps if I'd skipped this and gone straight to Fair Rebel?
This should be good. It's well-written and the characters are great there's a lot going on, but honestly, it somehow feels stretched out and not terribly interesting. The stakes aren't as high as in the previous books, where big world-threatening Insect invasions were balanced with smaller concerns and there were some big epic battles to keep things lively. Swainston is a superb action writer, and there's one blistering running battle between Awian horseman and Rhydanne hunters, and honestly the book could have done with a bit more of that. There's far more character stuff, and some works better than others. Jant is fairly unlikeable, vain and self-absorbed and often very stupid, getting by on good looks and charisma. His chapters are wearying.
I dunno, maybe if I wasn't ploughing through all the books together I'd like this more, but I didn't want a long flashback, I wanted to find out what happened next after the end of The Modern World. Perhaps if I'd skipped this and gone straight to Fair Rebel?
More...