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A review by lanko
She is the Darkness by Glen Cook
4.0
This is the longest book of the series so far, clocking around 450 pages (others are around 300-320). And there's really a lot to cover with numerous possible conflicts and schemes going on. Suffice to say, I wasn't disappointed. Not until the very end, at least.
Military tactics and plans are pretty well described, as is the paranoia of the people leading an army. The conflicts, betrayals, plans and everything else unfolding are pretty great overall.
The only issue I had was about the ending. Croaker is a 20+ year veteran and Captain of the army, was the previous Annalist and extremely suspicious and paranoid, always thinking of every possible situation. Lady commanded an empire that span half the world for centuries, is an extremely powerful sorceress and also extremely clever.
However, these two had to swallow a huge dose of the Stupid Pill for the convenience of the plot. It was so unbelievable I almost dropped the whole book to a 2* star, but a day later realized it wouldn't be fair because the vast majority of the book was excellent. But this does deserve a mention.
Croaker and Lady manage to defeat and capture all their enemies. Longshadow seems totally in their control. Howler as well.
But then comes Narayan Singh and Soulcatcher.
Narayan kidnapped Croaker and Lady's newborn daughter four years ago. They both have a special place in hell prepared for him. Narayan's best description would be "extremely sneaky and resourceful assassin/spy".
So instead of working on him, our heroes just leave him be. They don't even break his feet or arms. Blind him or something.
Then comes the big revelation near the end. Murgen, the protagonist, sees through his special mystical vision that Narayan actually escaped and is far away from them. He asks Lady and Croaker about Narayan. Their answer: "Wow, I totally forgot about him!" I was dumbfound. This was the guy who kidnapped and brainwashed your newborn daughter, you morons!
Even Murgen mocks Lady for that. But that needed to happen because Narayan needed to rescue the girl, who is brainwashed to be the Daughter of the Night. If Narayan was killed and Croaker and Lady got their kid back just like that it wouldn't be fun, would it?
Next dosage of the Stupidity Pill was provided by Soulcatcher.
Soulcatcher is Lady's sister and wants revenge. She's currently even more powerful than Lady. Then Catcher makes a mistake and is captured by Lady and Croaker.
Murgen even asks if they shouldn't at least cut Catcher's fingers to prevent her from using spells. Both reply that they believe she will behave. I was dumbfound again.
For anyone, even those who only have read the first book, it's crystal clear Soulcatcher is one of the most insane, crafty and unpredictable characters in the series. And she keeps getting even more unpredictable. But nope, let's just keep the most powerful sorceress simply tied with ropes and forget about her. You can guess what happened.
Worse, magicians in this world hide their true names under nicknames (Lady, Soulcatcher, etc). If someone uses their true name, they lose their powers (happened with Lady). In the very first book Lady had special arrows with Soulcatcher's true name on them to kill her. They are sisters, remember.
So why in the seven hells didn't Lady just used Catcher's true name and stripped her of all her power? Why the guy who kidnapped her daughter wasn't under surveillance? Why at least they didn't break Narayan's feet or cut Catcher's fingers, as was suggested?
There was absolutely nothing preventing them from doing so or that required them to rush and forget the villains. I even understood the reasoning: "we're gonna pass through the Shadowgate, so if something happens with us, it will happen to them too, so it's in their interests to warn us."
But Narayan Singh? He had nothing to do with that. Why not render Soulcatcher useless and bring her along anyway?
Because everything was obviously a trap created by Soulcatcher and our intelligent, ancient and powerful heroes couldn't just achieve their objectives the easy and clever way. That would be no fun! So there it goes, Stupidity Pill for everyone so we can have a few more books!
Sigh...
Despite my rant, the rest of the book was really good and only this ending spoiled it.
Military tactics and plans are pretty well described, as is the paranoia of the people leading an army. The conflicts, betrayals, plans and everything else unfolding are pretty great overall.
The only issue I had was about the ending. Croaker is a 20+ year veteran and Captain of the army, was the previous Annalist and extremely suspicious and paranoid, always thinking of every possible situation. Lady commanded an empire that span half the world for centuries, is an extremely powerful sorceress and also extremely clever.
However, these two had to swallow a huge dose of the Stupid Pill for the convenience of the plot. It was so unbelievable I almost dropped the whole book to a 2* star, but a day later realized it wouldn't be fair because the vast majority of the book was excellent. But this does deserve a mention.
Spoiler
Croaker and Lady manage to defeat and capture all their enemies. Longshadow seems totally in their control. Howler as well.
But then comes Narayan Singh and Soulcatcher.
Narayan kidnapped Croaker and Lady's newborn daughter four years ago. They both have a special place in hell prepared for him. Narayan's best description would be "extremely sneaky and resourceful assassin/spy".
So instead of working on him, our heroes just leave him be. They don't even break his feet or arms. Blind him or something.
Then comes the big revelation near the end. Murgen, the protagonist, sees through his special mystical vision that Narayan actually escaped and is far away from them. He asks Lady and Croaker about Narayan. Their answer: "Wow, I totally forgot about him!" I was dumbfound. This was the guy who kidnapped and brainwashed your newborn daughter, you morons!
Even Murgen mocks Lady for that. But that needed to happen because Narayan needed to rescue the girl, who is brainwashed to be the Daughter of the Night. If Narayan was killed and Croaker and Lady got their kid back just like that it wouldn't be fun, would it?
Next dosage of the Stupidity Pill was provided by Soulcatcher.
Soulcatcher is Lady's sister and wants revenge. She's currently even more powerful than Lady. Then Catcher makes a mistake and is captured by Lady and Croaker.
Murgen even asks if they shouldn't at least cut Catcher's fingers to prevent her from using spells. Both reply that they believe she will behave. I was dumbfound again.
For anyone, even those who only have read the first book, it's crystal clear Soulcatcher is one of the most insane, crafty and unpredictable characters in the series. And she keeps getting even more unpredictable. But nope, let's just keep the most powerful sorceress simply tied with ropes and forget about her. You can guess what happened.
Worse, magicians in this world hide their true names under nicknames (Lady, Soulcatcher, etc). If someone uses their true name, they lose their powers (happened with Lady). In the very first book Lady had special arrows with Soulcatcher's true name on them to kill her. They are sisters, remember.
So why in the seven hells didn't Lady just used Catcher's true name and stripped her of all her power? Why the guy who kidnapped her daughter wasn't under surveillance? Why at least they didn't break Narayan's feet or cut Catcher's fingers, as was suggested?
There was absolutely nothing preventing them from doing so or that required them to rush and forget the villains. I even understood the reasoning: "we're gonna pass through the Shadowgate, so if something happens with us, it will happen to them too, so it's in their interests to warn us."
But Narayan Singh? He had nothing to do with that. Why not render Soulcatcher useless and bring her along anyway?
Because everything was obviously a trap created by Soulcatcher and our intelligent, ancient and powerful heroes couldn't just achieve their objectives the easy and clever way. That would be no fun! So there it goes, Stupidity Pill for everyone so we can have a few more books!
Sigh...
Despite my rant, the rest of the book was really good and only this ending spoiled it.