A review by talenyn
The Stone in the Skull by Elizabeth Bear

4.0

A slow burn character study exploring another corner of Bear's intricate fantasy world from the Eternal Sky trilogy, which is loosely inspired by 14th century Asia. The writing is exquisite, as usual, but there is no driving force to the plot. It still worked for me because the characters are so realistic and engaging. But I can also tell that readers unfamiliar with the previous trilogy may be lost or bored by this first book. For those people, I would highly recommend reading both trilogies even though this one starts off slow.