Submitted by keen reader (Jun 10, 2009)

In general I really quite liked the whole series. Yes, many of the ideas were not new, but they were well-mixed and presented in an entertaining way. One weakness, however, was the way some characters, particularly during conversations between Durzo and Kylar, or Kylar and Vi, dropped into anachronistically modern voices. These are books of epic high fantasy, and while the humourous parts should sound different from the battle scenes and dramatic moments, they should still sound like they fit in to the same time period/place. Something that initially disturbed me, but on reflection I thought actually quite interesting, was the way Elene was portrayed essentially as a saint. Not something you see very often in fantasy novels, which are usually all about heroes in the classical mold (fortitude, justice, perserverance, courage, etc.) as opposed to the Christian (faith, hope, charity, love). I look forward to his next books!