A Scottish-Canadian Blethering On About Books

It seems a little silly to review this half-book (it doesn't break at any particularly climactic point in the plot), but it does have enough substance to bear a few comments of its own. If it warranted its own title, this volume could be called "The Battle of Sesuadra" (as opposed to "The Final Battle of Asua", which would be the last volume).

When I read Tolkien, I would always sigh when I got to the battle bits, which are my least favourite aspect of fantasy fiction. And there are plenty of those here too. However, there's enough in the way of character building and imaginative situations to carry me through. Simon continues on his path to maturity - there's a focus on that theme at the beginning of the volume, when he's knighted but doesn't feel he's really grown up or heroic enough to warrant it. Williams has found a good shorthand for those feelings of youthful insecurity in the word "Mooncalf." Miriamele, too, has a rather bumpy introduction to adulthood: she's seduced by the good-looking but tyrannical Aspitis (a nice snaky name), and consequently feels unworthy of Simon when they finally get around to acknowledging attraction.

One of the more memorable incidents takes place in the delightfully awful marsh area, where a group of the travellers end up descending into the creepy lair of super-crab ghants.

I moved on to the fourth volume without so much as a breath of hesitation, and with great hopes of seeing all the plot strands, earthly and supernatural, satisfactorily woven together.