TLDR: The Plot develops less than anticipated, with an embarrassment of useless details about uninteresting things, leaving other more exciting aspects bereft of detail. Unfortunately, it is not as good as previous installments, although it is still a good book compared to other offerings in the same genre. If you liked the first five, you won't hate this one.
My thoughts:
The storyline in this one is limited and focuses on all the wrong things. After most of the last two novels take place in a single dungeon (a lame challenge dungeon at that), I hoped the story would start progressing again as it did in the first few books. At first, it seemed this would be the case, as Derek and Silvi quickly ended the war with the combined army once they were out, but plot development stalled around halfway through when they took off to quell the human nation of Astrus. The book spent an inordinate amount of time on the idea of a joint wedding between Sabrina (the Elven envoy) and one of Edwin's nephews, Robert. Then, the final battle with what was left of Astrus' nobility was a bit anticlimactic, and Derek ended up just toying around with a bunch of regular army soldiers who were no challenge. At the same time, Alana and Marrick fought the only challenging individuals left. Then, the last 25% of the book is kind of a monotonous slog of wedding details and inner monologue, except for a brief but predictable fight scene where Derek once again uses an opponent as a training aide. Still, it is rushed and feels formulaic instead of fun, like similar interactions in previous books.
Derek needed more interaction with almost all the characters from the first few books, who are, nominally, the driving force behind his, often mentioned, changing personal preferences about being alone vs. having people he cares for and feels responsible for. I had been looking forward to those interactions and storylines picking up again. However, except for a few interactions with Brandi and Mal and some internal monologue mentioning Thomas, there is disappointingly little mention given to some of my favorite secondary characters. By the end of the book, he plans to ditch most of those people in favor of other pursuits, so it does not look like they will be a major part of the story as we advance. On a more positive note, if the author puts a little more thought into the next installment, the upcoming time that Derek is supposed to spend adventuring with Alanah should be fun, although I hope it can be done without Avery tagging along.
It was interesting to see the elf characters become a little more fleshed out; I ended up liking Ryven and Osian much more than I would have suspected based on the last couple of books. Marrick was a fun new character, too. Although the way that Osian just rolled over and submitted when Derek and co. showed up in his throne room was a little anti-climatic.
The editing was reasonably good. However, a few instances of missing words threw me off, and a few places where using italics to denote mental conversation and occasionally inner thoughts was inconsistent, making it necessary to reread some passages.
Complaints aside, I look forward to the next book, which will hopefully return to a more consistent plot development pace and have more interaction between Alanah and Derek. It would be nice if Derek, being part of a different system, had removed the 250-level cap, as if it does not, character development will likely stagnate.
kaitlin
Lonnie-The GreatNorthernTroll-Moore