Back to London, the magical version, where Peter Grant and the Falcon team investigate a sudden death in the London Silver Vaults…. and Peter prepares for the births, River Goddess style, of his and Bev’s twins – and parenthood.
A man, Piranesi, lives alone in a House of Halls, oceans below and clouds above. The Other visits him twice a week. There are fifteen human skeletons, living birds, fish and molluscs. A strange world indeed. With hints of CS Lewis.
The Alex Verus series comes to a close. Pretty much all fighting, which I never find that interesting although it makes perfect sense for the plot as the battle lines have built up over the 10 books: Light vs Dark mages, Drakh vs everyone, Light Anne vs Dark Anne vs Marid-possessing Anne, Mages and Keepers vs Marids and Ifrits, Jinns and Janns.
At least Luna and Hermes the blink fox stay with us to the end. I miss Arachne – I kept hoping she’d return somehow from somewhere, or Elsewhere. I thought Starbreeze the air elemental might make an appearance too, but no.
The third and final instalment of Robin Hobb’s Soldier Son trilogy takes Nevare into the magical world and mindset of the Specks as Soldier’s Boy takes control of their shared body, and then back to Gernia and out of the Great One’s body.
Everything wraps up fast and furiously at the end, and that left me wondering if there might have been another book in there, especially with the somewhat irritating ending. I cannot see that working out well for Amzil at all. She’s been a strangely thin character for me, and usually I find Robin Hobb’s women much more three dimensional. I’m also intrigued by the map in each book which shows far more places than are touched on throughout the trilogy.