Wizardborn

An excellent continuation of the Runelord's saga! The moral choices faced by the characters is excellent, and really makes one think! Who among us could knowingly order men to their deaths? Moreso, who could order a 9-year-old girl to do the things Gaborn to do the things he asked of Averan to do? Or order a retreat from a battle, knowing that defenseless civilians would be slaughtered as a result?

I like the way Gaborn's powers are still diminished. Originally his Earth King Powers basically cast him as almost omnipotent, and it almost seemed as if he could do anything, so a needed check on that power stepped in.

It was interesting to see Raj Ahten's final transformation and the loss of his humanity. Farland tried through the series, particularly through book 2 I feel, to somewhat humanize him, but as we saw, to no avail. Unfortunately, it was almost a given that this would happen given his massive hubris right after slaying the fell mage. He was so focused on people worshipping him for it, that it was to the point of being a trope that he was going to fall almost immediately.

Myrimma and Borenson have an interesting story, with her going from a peasant girl to a Runelord, to seemingly powerful wizard, and also watching her heal Borenson from his seemingly horrible childhood. On the one hand, it's straying into trope territory for someone from a peasant background to have great power and possibly lineage. On the other, it's refreshing to see a marriage where the woman is clearly the stronger half in almost every manner of speaking. You also see this with Erin of Fleeds and in fact the entire land of Fleeds. This is especially noteworthy given that this series was started 20 years ago!

The final part that intrigues me the most is the sudden shift for Averan. Up to this point, she hasn't shown any malice or ill will in her personality, even when we got an italic view inside her thoughts. Yet Binnsman immediately regarded her with suspicion as soon as she picked out her staff. Is it possible that eating from reavers has had more adverse effects on her than what we've seen? I'm probably the most curious about where her story goes in the upcoming book(s).

One thing that really bothers me is...the numbers. 100,000 artillery pieces, 1 million soldiers on the battlefield, another 2 million on the way, a million refugees...these would be staggering numbers today, and only the largest countries could do it by dedicating their entire society to the war, and this society is preindustrial. I can suspend disbelief for some things, but this is a bit much, and for no purpose. Yeah, they have magic, but nothing like this has been shown in the power of magic.

All in all, an excellent book that I can't wait to continue!