Andrew Adam
Simply tremendous, even better than its predecessor. I think it benefits from a tighter focus - with the hospital tent as a hub for all the key characters, rather than the more chaotic and coincidence-dependent interactions of Ilmar. And because so much of the world-building was done in City of Last Chances, there's more space to explore certain elements in more depth (don't, under any circumstances, read this without reading CoLC first, or you'll be baffled).
There's a dark reflection of Discworld here, with Jack as the Rincewind of a universe whose stories tend towards the tragic rather than the comic. The scene where three characters flee a palace is pure Pratchett, right up to the moment where it isn't, and the immortal wizard in his tower is a superb cameo.
I won the third book in this series in a sweepstake, so should probably declare an interest, but I'm very glad that gave me the nudge to read the first two!
Simply tremendous, even better than its predecessor. I think it benefits from a tighter focus - with the hospital tent as a hub for all the key characters, rather than the more chaotic and coincidence-dependent interactions of Ilmar. And because so much of the world-building was done in City of Last Chances, there's more space to explore certain elements in more depth (don't, under any circumstances, read this without reading CoLC first, or you'll be baffled).
There's a dark reflection of Discworld here, with Jack as the Rincewind of a universe whose stories tend towards the tragic rather than the comic. The scene where three characters flee a palace is pure Pratchett, right up to the moment where it isn't, and the immortal wizard in his tower is a superb cameo.
I won the third book in this series in a sweepstake, so should probably declare an interest, but I'm very glad that gave me the nudge to read the first two!