Submitted by Mark 
(Oct 11, 2005)As with all of David and Leigh Eddings' books, in my opinion, this was very well crafted. The characters are a little trite, with a gentle sense of humour belonging in a past of buttered scones and cream teas, but still very comforting and far removed from the shock and awe tactics of a lot of modern writers. However, it is very gratifying to have a lead character in Longbow who doesn't dabble in magic. In fact, none of the leading non-divine characters show anything supernatural apart from intelligence.
I liked the way that diversity was encouraged and the new folks they meet as their company extends are not belittled. However, the major fly in the ointment was how they come to rely on their mysterious helper to pull their chestnuts out of the fire. All of the previous books, in all series, left the Gods pretty much to themselves and the characters overcame the adversity. This book started to smack of 'regardless what we do, Mother will win it for us'.
All in all, okay, intelligent use of bison, rather than buffaloes, and you know the difference between the two?
You can't wash your hands in a buffalo;-)
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(19 ratings)