A review by enbyglitch
Dreams of Steel by Glen Cook
4.0
[2nd read]
Following on from Shadow Games, I think I've now read >98% of what I remember from the series. Truly not much clue what is coming in the remaining four books.
This one's a little tough, lacking the real Company vibe in a similar way to "Silver Spike". I enjoyed the Lady's journey with the Deceivers greatly, although -
1) I could do with her being a little more competent and confident. Had she really come to rely on her magic for everything in her life?
2) Need better reasoning behind her not recognizing her pregnancy. Contraceptive spells she had in place with the Dominator, being some form of undead herself, whatever.
3) Show the betrayal at the end!! Cook clearly wanted the pregnancy to be a huge reveal and then to never deal with it again, but man what a shitty way to advance Narayan and these other characters we spent the whole book with.
Could also have used a little more transparency with the great Wizards - as it is a third of this book is just maniacal scheming, laughter, and shrieking with the only real development being the switch Catcher pulled. The lore is excellent, at least.
Better executed than "Spike", but still missed a couple characters, thought Lady could've been handled better, and can't help but feel like not much *happened* here when all is said and done.
Following on from Shadow Games, I think I've now read >98% of what I remember from the series. Truly not much clue what is coming in the remaining four books.
This one's a little tough, lacking the real Company vibe in a similar way to "Silver Spike". I enjoyed the Lady's journey with the Deceivers greatly, although -
1) I could do with her being a little more competent and confident. Had she really come to rely on her magic for everything in her life?
2) Need better reasoning behind her not recognizing her pregnancy. Contraceptive spells she had in place with the Dominator, being some form of undead herself, whatever.
3) Show the betrayal at the end!! Cook clearly wanted the pregnancy to be a huge reveal and then to never deal with it again, but man what a shitty way to advance Narayan and these other characters we spent the whole book with.
Could also have used a little more transparency with the great Wizards - as it is a third of this book is just maniacal scheming, laughter, and shrieking with the only real development being the switch Catcher pulled. The lore is excellent, at least.
Better executed than "Spike", but still missed a couple characters, thought Lady could've been handled better, and can't help but feel like not much *happened* here when all is said and done.