I finally got my copy last night, and I really enjoy the American-Canadian shared hardcover cover! It captures the feel of the book much more than the bland bronze cover and the "face" cover. The coloring seems more reserved than the others, the deep scarlet with what appears to be a mixed decaying tapestry/Arabic writing "falling" into it captures the despair, violence, and pure brutallity of everything coming to their conclusions so well.
As for the book itself, it's great. Even the "calmer" opening moments matches with the best of Scott's writing in the first two books, and sometimes surpasses it. I'm on chapter four (I think), about 70 pages in, and there's tons of brillaint paragraphs of thought: anything with Cnaiur in it, Proyas' ruminations, the meeting, Akka's...uh...deeds (I can't think of any other way to say that without spoiling it), Xinemus' reactions, and the drunk Scarlet Spires leader were all great...and in only the first 70 pages! It's like the entire book (so far) is composed of memorable moments, instead of a typical fantasy books (and others, non-genre) were I'm waiting for something interesting to happen--anything, whether it be character, plot, writing, or whatever. Especially saying a lot of fantasies seem like bad pornos: tons of useless build ups, faux passes at something good, and a cheap payoff at the end that leaves you feeling "Well, that was okay, I guess...ok, I admit it, how could it have been so dry of feeling?"
Anyway, I think I'll go and get back to TTT soon. I'll see you guys in the spoiler topic!
