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Book Review
Mar. 9th, 2018 10:13 pmFour Roads Cross
by Max Gladstone
This is the fifth book in the Craft Sequence and has easily become my favorite (which is saying a lot, since I have really enjoyed all of them). Here we have come back around to Alt Coulomb and Tara Abernathy, the setting and main character of the first book, Three Parts Dead. It's about a year after the events of the earlier story, and while the god Kos is doing just fine, Tara must now deal with the re-emergence of the moon goddess Seril, long thought dead. This has far-reaching effects not just on the spiritual life of the city but also on the balance of power between Alt Coulomb and its gods and the other cities, powers, and political relationships surrounding it. Tara must find a way to not only help Seril establish and stabilize herself within Alt Coulomb, but also withstand attempts at a hostile takeover from outside the city.
As an aside, I also really liked the way Gladstone wove in the story of two families of produce vendors in one of the city's markets and how their lives and actions interacted with the larger events and issues of the plot. I've read a lot of fantasy that centered on epic, cosmic plots, and I have often found myself wondering what it's like to be an average farmer in Middle-Earth or an ordinary tailor in a town in Westeros while all this earth-shaking stuff is going down. I deeply appreciate how the Craft Sequence keeps answering that question.
I loved this book. Tara, Cat, and Abelard are all great characters. The problems and conflicts of the narrative were complex and fascinating and the solutions were incredibly clever and satisfying. The writing is great - there's enough of everything - action, description, dialogue, etc. Through it all, Gladstone weaves themes around the building of relationships and how those relationships work in and on the world around them. There's also a thread about laws, agreements, and the construction of reality.
by Max Gladstone
This is the fifth book in the Craft Sequence and has easily become my favorite (which is saying a lot, since I have really enjoyed all of them). Here we have come back around to Alt Coulomb and Tara Abernathy, the setting and main character of the first book, Three Parts Dead. It's about a year after the events of the earlier story, and while the god Kos is doing just fine, Tara must now deal with the re-emergence of the moon goddess Seril, long thought dead. This has far-reaching effects not just on the spiritual life of the city but also on the balance of power between Alt Coulomb and its gods and the other cities, powers, and political relationships surrounding it. Tara must find a way to not only help Seril establish and stabilize herself within Alt Coulomb, but also withstand attempts at a hostile takeover from outside the city.
As an aside, I also really liked the way Gladstone wove in the story of two families of produce vendors in one of the city's markets and how their lives and actions interacted with the larger events and issues of the plot. I've read a lot of fantasy that centered on epic, cosmic plots, and I have often found myself wondering what it's like to be an average farmer in Middle-Earth or an ordinary tailor in a town in Westeros while all this earth-shaking stuff is going down. I deeply appreciate how the Craft Sequence keeps answering that question.
I loved this book. Tara, Cat, and Abelard are all great characters. The problems and conflicts of the narrative were complex and fascinating and the solutions were incredibly clever and satisfying. The writing is great - there's enough of everything - action, description, dialogue, etc. Through it all, Gladstone weaves themes around the building of relationships and how those relationships work in and on the world around them. There's also a thread about laws, agreements, and the construction of reality.
