Melody Murray's Books

Where was Stirling's editor? Ay-yi-yi. Eight books into the series, you needn't tell me about all the players in detail. Especially the dead ones, for pages and pages. Yep, Norman was a bad guy, got it, now let's move on already. The Liu backstory was entirely too detailed, and the way it threaded through the entire book was fairly annoying. As others have said, there are about 200 pages of actual new book here, and nearly 400 of filler, backstory, rehash & description of the freaking gloaming and the succulent roast pork with a slight crackly sweet glaze. I'm getting impatient with the religion in these books, as the series grinds on- I'm not sure I'm buying the wholesale adoption of oh, say the ancient rites of Odin, with all the assorted panoply, or the way, in 25 years, all the children are named from the ancient lays and nobody is named Jill or Jason any more. I get that Stirling is bringing the Powers back in a big way as the series goes on, but I'm not sure I can suspend my disbelief appropriately. Every book that comes out has each religion more of a caricature of itself than the last- in this one, the Catholics can't move without kissing their rosaries or praying to St. Somebody and the Wiccans are begging pardon of the trees as they climb them, while even Lady D'Ath is having a little moment with (who else) Athena.Worth reading if you have read the first 7 and plan to read the next (2? 4? 39?). But don't rush off to the bookstore thinking you are going to be any closer to the big war, because you won't be.