Sebastian wrote:
Setting a book in our world, or one similar, with all the name changes was annoying. And worse, Glen seemed to enjoy sharing all these new names and places with no real framework to hang them on. A third of the way through I didn't care anymore and story got mired in the details.
Or perhaps the lack of details. Too often Glen spent time in the details at some 30,000 foot level of the politics and geography and didn't spend time with the characters. He dropped the squad nature of Black Company and went back to the epic story of Dread Empire. But in the process he left the characters behind.
The Dread Empire was done right. The Dread Empire had a big story to tell and Glen did a much better job of telling it with characters. These characters you got to know and love after the first book. Varthlokkur, Bragi, Mocker, Nepanthe, and Haroun are classic.
I was hoping with a fresh trilogy that Glen would give us a new round of vibrant characters like Croaker, Goblin, Elmo, SoulCatcher, Lady, and Raven. But this book has no soul and not much Else.
I've been sitting on my reply. Partially, because it took me awhile to get through the book, but mostly because I was hoping that I just missed the particular genius of the new series. However, I have to agree with Sebastian. Glen's characters are so smartly done that when he moves away from them the narrative goes flat. Especially when characters like Else have such interesting possibilities that are never developed. I see Glen's bind. He likes complicated plots with multiple players and in order to get it all out, he needs an explainer. But how many Mercenary Annalists and Ancient Space Ninja Turtle Masterminds can one have to present insights to world's macro-politics? I had imagined the Perfect Candle in that role, but he was always far from the center of the action. I have shelves full of histories written in the form of impersonal thick description. I don't need it in my vacation reading. I look to fantasy for unrealistically clear stories told by characters who are always uncannily close to the action. The narrative portions of the book were worth wading though the other parts, but I might wait to read the reviews before I pay full price for the next volume. Of course, that rule doesn't apply to the promised Black Company books. -Skull