Snow in the Year of the Dragon Before reading this, meant to write a full review intended to somewhat cover
the entire series, also thinking this was the end of it. But... No. And it's not the end anyway, though most of the time I sure hoped it would be, just to get it over with. Yes, I'd say the writing itself remains the strongest point, not counting a number of typos, but even that seems less notable than before. It's possible that I disliked the content too much to care though, since for the first three quarters of the book, the only parts I thought were written about as well as I've gotten to expect from
the author were Sireth and Ursa's sections, which were also the only ones I didn't exactly dislike in terms of content.
Sadly, even those sections consisted of court intrigue, scheming and what I tend to call human filth, yet this kind of filth was much more present everywhere else and there's little that could save those other sections. Admittedly, it's a subjective point of view, my first complaint being the obviously postapocalyptic setting, with the typical elements of the genre much more present than before, yet even Shar and Setse's sections left me cold, and in general I didn't get much of a feeling of adventure, sense of exploration, reasons to care for the characters, their relationships and development. All of that should be present, considering the events, but I just didn't feel it anymore.
Things do quite suddenly seem to click into place nearly three quarters of the way in, even if that's still a postapocalyptic place that I remain very much put off by, and it is quite a ride for a while, but it still didn't quite strike me as truly meeting even the standards set by the previous books, and it's definitely not enough to change the impression left by the rest. It may be just me, of course, but I was searching for what I got to expect to like from the author and can say I found only traces of it here.
Rating: 3/5
