It feels unfinished, in some respects. I suspect this is because it is the fifth book in a series with rather more than five volumes, and it is the only book in the series I have read. I started it because I liked his writing in the Grail's Covenant series, more than for any other reason. Unfortunately, I suspect I would dislike the writing in other books of this Dark Ages Clan Novel series, given the fact each book is written by someone different, and the first book's author is an author whose writing I haven't enjoyed in the past.

David Niall Wilson is great at some atmospheric writing and character building. The complexity of some relationships in this novel, the weight of factions, and likely the requirement to tie it closely to other books written by other people, seem to have made it a bit less cohesive a story than it could have been. Some of the character development narrative became clunky and unnecessarily expository. It feels a little like a later draft, but not fully polished, still in need of some work.

I enjoyed it, and felt a touch disappointed it was over. It makes me want to read more -- but more of the story as it would be written by this author, not by some other as part of a marketing series of books where the focus of each is on a different character attached to a different faction.

I think my next David Niall Wilson book will not be about someone else's product line. ( )