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The Art of the Sword | Rating | |
| B | |||
| Ru Emerson | |||
| Series | Related Books | ||
| Night-Threads | The Calling of the Three, The Two in Hiding, One Land, One Duke, The Craft of Light, The Art of the Sword, The Science of Power | ||
The plot to overthrow Jennifer and Dahven has been thwarted, but the one to overthrow all of Rhadaz after weaking it with the drug zero is still very much alive. Chris is trying to trace it to its source in that world's equivalent of the Carribean, and Lialla is in the dutchy of Holmaddan gathering evidence on those bringing it into the country, and trying to improve the lot of women there while she's at it. But Chris has been less than perfectly cautious, and the drug lords decide to deal with him. And it looks like it's time for things to go to the next level in Rhadaz, as well. Whoever the bad guys are, they're moving out of the preparation phase, and starting to move.
The story's focus has shifted away from Jennifer and Sikkre to focus more on Chris. This is fine; her portion was largely finished, and this is a fight along multiple fronts. What's a little less acceptable is the convoluted manner by which Emerson brings in another major character, in the form of Chris' unwilling wife. I was also a bit less than thrilled at the hundred pages or more of talking that followed, as all the character try to adjust. Surely Ariadne could have been brought into the picture in a more believable manner.
Chris' adventures are not the only tale being told, but the other two are given short shrift. I'm not too upset that the author didn't focus too much on Lialla's dual quest for women's rights and proof of the duke's involvement with the zero trade. It was obvious that proof would not be a thing hard-fought; they knew he was guilty, it was only a matter of gathering hard proof that a biased emperor could not ignore. That might be a while coming, but I knew it would come quickly when it did. And I honestly didn't care at all about how poorly the women there were treated. I was more disappointed by how little space was devoted to Robyn's attempts to clean Duke's Fort of zero, and her teaching her daught how to properly use her shapeshifting ability.
And when the situation devolves in the last third or so of the book, the situation turned out in a less than satisfactory manner, from a storytelling point of view. This is true, in fact, for nearly all the facets of the climax. Emerson sets things up, and then resolves them, rather quickly and straightforwardly. It would be an exaggeration to say there was no tension, but it was certainly less than it could have been. It could have been, should have been, much more dramatic.
This is one of those books that is perfectly adequate, but really nothing special. It forwards the plot a good deal, but Emerson spends too little time on some things I'd liked to have seen more of and too much on others I didn't much care for. The climax fails to live up to its potential, and unfortunately I have to say, so does the book.
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