Critique: A Wizard of Earthsea (Earthsea Quartet #1) (Ursula Le Guin)

The book begins by talking about the great mage Sparrowhawk/Ged from Gont. It sets the story up as if it’s being told by a bard. It means the reader is told information rather than shown it (if not for the bardic style, this would be a strike against this book). Considering such a large amount of time goes by in this story, the bardic style was the most appropriate choice.

 

*****SPOILERS****

 

Plenty of points makes this a stand-out novel.

Kargish raiders storm Sparrowhawk’s village. Note is made of their white skin, implying that Sparrowhawk and his people weren’t white-skinned. This was brilliant: by not overtly stating that the main people had dark skin and that light skin was deemed ‘other’, it makes brown skin the default position. Hence it’s only noteworthy to describe less-common skin colours. After this, Gontish people are described as having dark, copper-brown skin. The implications come before the description which was a brilliant choice.

‘To hear, one must be silent.’ At first glance, it seems bizarre to say something so obviously true. Yet it’s a sentence that presents itself as profound. One can listen and talk at the same time yet to hear, to truly understand what’s said, one must be silent to process fully the information.

‘To light a candle is to cast a shadow.’ This demonstrates the principles of cause-and-effect and that opposites are complementary and, maybe, necessary.

The description of ‘hearing the autumn wind fingering at the thatch roof’ is sensational.

Sparrowhawk’s staff is yew and bronze, unlike the oak and iron of other wizards. Oaks are associated with life and yew with death: this is appropriate, considering Sparrowhawk tried to summon a dead hero and came back from the dead himself.

Born Duny, Sparrowhawk is trained from ages seven to twelve by his aunt, a witch. She tries to bind him to her service but he’s so strong that he laughs it off. If not for the ‘told not shown’ style, the readers wouldn’t know that this was significant until much later, even though they needed to know its significance in that specific moment.

 

 

Plot

 

Sparrowhawk is taught by Ogion for a while before going to the school on Roke at age fifteen.

Within a month, Sparrowhawk is bettering students that have been there for a year. (Sparrowhawk is in the same classes as them, so does that mean students learn the same thing over and over again until they’re raised to wizards?)

Sparrowhawk summons a dead individual and out of this crack in the world leaps a shadow. Sparrowhawk ends up blind, deaf and mute for a few months after this. (So why the healers kept the blinds shut in summer I don’t know.)

At eighteen, Sparrowhawk is sent to his posting to Low Torning to protect against the Dragon of Pendor. As the shadow was weakening Sparrowhawk’s defences, Sparrowhawk banishes the dragon then sets of to do the same with the shadow.

Sparrowhawk goes to the abyss where he and the Shadow speak each other’s true name and it’s the same: Sparrowhawk. After this, they merge. With Sparrowhawk having fixed his mistake, the story comes to a satisfying end.

 

Women are not well thought of in Earthsea. Even though the story meets plenty of them, only one ever gets named.

There are two phrases that oft crop up: ‘weak/wicked as a woman’s magic’. Wizards don’t use magic unless there’s a real need because of the Balance and the Pattern they serve. So witches using magic whenever they want is deemed foolish, dubious and indeed dangerous.

A darkness appears after Sparrowhawk is forced to read a book. Ogion manages to dispel it then blames it on the lord’s daughter, saying she cast a spell on Sparrowhawk to gain sorcery knowledge for her and her enchantress mother. (Note: the men aren’t taking responsibility for their own actions.)

Sparrowhawk recalls all his magical teachers later in the book. The only one he doesn’t name is the witch. Whilst this matches with Earthsea’s attitude to women, it’s still a surprise because that witch was Sparrowhawk’s aunt!

 

 

Problems

 

The grammar and punctuation is mostly fine, making the mistakes stand out more.

‘What, after all, is the use of you? or of myself?’ Why the ‘or’ doesn’t have a capital when it’s the start of the sentence, I don’t know.

In one paragraph, we have, “Jasper speech,” Jasper prose, Sparrowhawk prose, “Sparrowhawk speech.” This should be split into two paragraphs, one for Jasper and one for Sparrowhawk, so that there is a non-confusing transition between the two.

Sparrowhawk heals cataracts in man. ‘I had forgotten how much light there is in the world, till you gave it back to me.’ It should be ‘until’ or ‘ ‘til’, not till (it’s not a shop checkout!)

 

Quite often, there were inconsistencies between the worldbuilding and the plot.

Jasper is condescending to Sparrowhawk so Sparrowhawk talks himself into hating Jasper and wanting to put him to shame. This reaction would’ve been fine if Sparrowhawk felt it but Sparrowhawk forces himself to feel like this. So I’m not convinced by this. This is why, when Jasper does an illusion and this ruins Sparrowhawk’s night, I’m not convinced.

As Sparrowhawk was off for a few months, it says he’s behind the other students. If he could overtake them within a month, it’s not feasible that those students could overtake him in less than a year. However, the fact that he performs badly at magic would account for this discrepancy, but this would only be post-injury.

Sparrowhawk gets tired from all the rowing. Isn’t there a spell for that? Yes, I know the book says wizards only do magic when they need to, but if they can create illusions and float around for fun, a spell to row the boat to achieve something positive (getting rid of the evil Shadow) is surely permissible?

The shadow completely possesses Skiorh. Now, the Shadow could only start to possess Sparrowhawk once Sparrowhawk tried to summon the dead and then came back from death. It’s doubtful that Skiorh did those things so it’s doubtful that Skiorh could be possessed by the Shadow. Unless mages are just more resilient to possession? It’s too important a plot point to be left in ambiguity.

Sparrowhawk says Ogion was right, that if Sparrowhawk chose the Shadow it couldn’t draw on his power, even though Ogion doesn’t say this. For such an important detail, it should be included in earlier prose (which is why the excuse ‘we don’t see all of Sparrowhawk and Ogion’s conversations so Ogion could have said it then’ doesn’t hold).

Sparrowhawk travels to the abyss to deal with shadow. I’m not entirely sure how he decided to go there, or that he should go there. Goodness, even him knowing he could go there remains unknown. For such an important part in the plot, travelling to the abyss would need some sort of pre-acknowledgement. Yet, whilst reading this part in the story, it doesn’t feel like information’s been neglected. I don’t know how the author manaSparrowhawk this but it’s impressive nonetheless.

It takes three days to get to the abyss yet sixteen to return. Why this inconsistency? Time dilation is a thing in fantasy, true, but there’s usually a rationale behind it. None is provided for in the book but through tenuous links, I have one. To get to the abyss, Sparrowhawk travels until there’s no east or west, or sunrise or sunset, where water is liquid enough to row through yet solid enough to stand on. Perhaps for there to be no such physical distinctions, the abyss isn’t a physical place. In a non-physical place, physical actions like travel could lack consistency. Plus, moving requires direction (east/west) and time (sunrise/sunset) so with neither direction nor time, moving wouldn’t follow the same rules.

 

 

True Names

 

Like many fantasy worlds, Earthsea’s magic relies on the true names of things. Whilst this is a trope I dislike, I can see when it’s done well or not. In Earthsea, it’s done excellently.

With Ogion, Sparrowhawk learns the Hardic runes which have their roots in the Old Speech, the language that gives all things their true names. ‘Runes that were written when the islands of the world first were raised up from the sea.’ This has to means that the Old Speech is older than the islands.

At fifteen, Sparrowhawk goes to famous Roke Island school. He meets Archmage Nemmerle and, for a moment, Sparrowhawk understands birds, water and himself, ‘a word spoken by the sunlight’. This is a beautiful description but it never states what this even means. Maybe it means the Old Speech is the language of sunlight? This would explain how the Runes could exist before the islands did.

Humans can’t lie in the Old Speech, yet dragons can twist the truth because it’s their language. But if a human is fluent in the Old Speech, I don’t see why they can’t twist the truth, too. (This point is resolved in the fourth book, rounding the quartet off nicely.)

 

There is still a question remaining over the true names, however.

The students learn that the sea has a true name yet individual seas have their own true names. What’s the point of the generic sea having a true name if it can’t be used?

Then Sparrowhawk befriends an otak, a species whose true name is hoeg. Sparrowhawk uses the species true name, rather than the individual otak’s own true name. Why use an individual sea’s true name but not do so with an individual otak?

Surely an individual otak, as an individual animal, is more distinct from general otaks than a sea is from general seas. Surely if something is more distinct than the other, its distinct true name would be the one more likely to be used over the general name?

Why it took Sparrowhawk so long to realise the Shadow was him, I don’t know. Archmage Gensher equated the Shadow with Sparrowhawk’s arrogance and ignorance before Sparrowhawk’s posting. That’s a pretty strong hint. Not to mention Sparrowhawk guessed the dragon’s true name by remembering stories: this is so tenuous that it shows Sparrowhawk’s top skills in discerning true names. Discerning his own true name, even in something else, should have been very easy.

 

 

Conclusion

 

All in all, this was a good book. There’s plenty in it, from its setting to its plot, that distinguishes it from the other fantasy books on the market.

Critique: The Fire Ascending (Chris D’Lacey)

This book is about Agawin, a seer’s apprentice in the distant past. The dragon Galen is about to shed his firetear so all the people are migrating to see. I loved the setting and I loved the characters. It interconnects to the history of the other books in an interesting fashion.

 

*****SPOILERS*****

 

Positives

 

Many good bits showed the talent of the author.

The description that ‘the hillsides were brittle with frost’ was stunning.

‘Like the land, the river was harassed by winter.’

A spider lives in Griss’ ear. That’s such a vivid and gross detail.

Gwilanna’s blood was black being described as ‘There was night in her veins.’

In Part Seven we finally have chapters!

A whole page of describing Voss was great. (Even if it didn’t have the best delivery, being told and not shown.)

Alexa calls a laboratory a ‘labradory’. So cute!

In the reset timeline, David does an interview. It’s almost like the author is desperate to be interviewed in real life. Admittedly, the prose is written well. The atmosphere matches a studio. All the fake/forced laughter and cheering from the audience matches what happens on talk shows. It even says ‘he delivers some real, anecdotal humour, base don topical issues in the news.’ This matches tv interviews, too, but it would have been nice to get actual words rather than instructions.

Arthur named his cats ‘Higgs’ and ‘Boson’ which I think is fantastic.

 

The plot had a lot of interesting features.

The Premen Voss is preventing other people from seeing the dying dragon Galen. In exchange for the sybil Hilde’s help, he’s given Hilde a baby. They stole the girl Grella to calm the unicorn that Voss dehorned.

Some fain transfer into Agawin and hegoes to rescue Grella. Galen transfers his auma into Agawin who escapes by shaking the tornaq. He wakes up to Guinevere.

Gwilanna says Guinevere body broke into pieces and each of these became a child.

Agawin is taken to the Higher where he can visit points in the timeline. He watches Grella with Hilde’s baby, Gwilanna, in captivity (taking place after Galen but before meeting Guinevere).

Gwilanna’s doll sucks the auma from two adults and becomes Guinevere. When Guinevere dies, we learn her body broke into pieces and each of these became a child. One of which is the ancestor to Liz and Lucy.

 

There were two things of note.

The answer to the mystery of how Guinevere got close enough to Gawain to catch his firetear is never stated but it seems to be because Gawain trusted her because she was present at his hatching.

Liz and Lucy both know it’s very easy to make a dragon cry yet before David came they’d never seen it. This means someone must have told them, implying that other Pennykettles have made special dragons in the past.

 

 

Negatives

 

The grammar, punctuation and format wasn’t handled the best.

‘Wolf-whistles’ is put in quotation marks in the prose and I have no idea why.

For the first time, after six other books, this one was written in first person. That was very jarring. Why the sudden need to change?

Voss wants to be ‘stronger than Gaia herself’. It should be ‘Herself’ because pronouns are capitalised for deities.

Part One had over eighty pages yet no chapters. That’s a long time, especially as it’s a children’s book.

Writes ‘all right’ instead of ‘alright’.

Griss says ‘We cun use that, we can’ and later ‘It cun work, it can’. Both ‘cun’ and ‘can’ are being used as the same word so why have it done differently.

The prose reveals that Griss is Stygg’s mother. Considering the prose is from Agawin’s perspective, the prose shouldn’t reveal anything Agawin doesn’t know.

Rune stabs Grella (a massive, nonsensical accident) and in this same paragraph we have Grella speaking. It should be separated.

The interview appears to be explaining away the author’s decisions. Like removing Bergstrom, having loose ends and impossible complexities. The author’s organic (i.e. unplanned) writing style means there’s a lack of coherence. The more books there are, the more opportunities for organic writing to deliver trouble.

 

There were so many problems that I quickly became bored of cataloguing them.

The bear Thoran beckons Guinever and Agawin with his paw. Really?

The Eremitts stuff their food with spiders. The amount of spiders this would take is immense; Grella’s chain certainly isn’t long enough for go the distance necessary to collect a noticeable amount.

Stygg licks Gwilanna’s blood and he goes mad, biting a villhund and becoming a hybrid. Usually it’s the biter that infects the bitee, not the other way around.

Agawin says he instinctively knows which second it is. This detail isn’t necessary for the plot so it’s useless information.

There are these weird bits with Alexa in some futuristic version of Earth but it’s place in the plot seems pointless. It adds nothing but confusion so it should have been removed. I don’t even know what the author was trying to achieve with it. Also, they somehow know there was a change in the timeline. How could they possibly know?

Voss is betrothed to Zanna. Considering Zanna is a descendant of Gwilanna and Gwilanna is Voss’ child, this means Zanna is betrothed to her ancestor. That’s disgusting. Gross, even.

Joseph Henry, who for some reason is the one in charge of fixing the timeline, says Gwilanna needs to make up for her ‘misdemeanours’. That’s the understatement of the year.

 

Some things made little sense.

Gwilanna, being created with a unicorn, has all the unicorn’s knowledge (such as Mark of Oomara). But if this were the case, Gwilanna would know the truth about her parentage. Also, why does being made with a unicorn give her the unicorn’s knowledge? 

David and Rosa appear and David accidentally calls her ‘Zanna’. But this David has only met Rosa so why would he get confused?

Rune sarcastically calls Gwilanna beautiful and then she grows to adult sized. Hilde had cursed Gwilanna to be ugly until someone showed her she was beautiful. But even as an adult Gwilanna is ugly so the curse wouldn’t broken. Even if it were broken, why would it make Gwilanna grow into an adult?

When Rune and Grella’s aumas are sucked out by Guinevere, Grella for some reason shrinking into a skull. Even if this did make sense, the same would have to happen to Rune, too, surely?)

David reveals that if Rosa touches Zanna, Rose will fade. It’s never explained why Rosa fades and not Zanna but maybe it’s because they’re in Zanna’s world and not Rosa’s?

Voss, with a scratch of his tail, can convert anyone and make them do what he wants. He wants to know from David where Alexa is and Alexa refuses. So why doesn’t Voss just convert David?

Why did Alexa hint to Voss that Kailar was sneaking up on him? The bear might still be alive if she didn’t give Voss the heads up.

In the reset timeline, magic has been removed. Why? Unless resetting the timeline removed the Fain, but imagineering and magic are always made out to be different. For this massive detail to be removed means the timeline was reconstructed, not reset. I know at end that Gadzooks is hinted to be real but that’s not enough.

 

Some other things weren’t just problematic but utterly wrong.

Guinevere says they should take Gawain to the Tooth. But the Tooth was formed by Ragnar, a second-generation polar bear, and polar bears don’t exist yet.

Agawin asks the Fain why he sometimes hears Alexa’s voice. Um, at what point has Agawin heard Alexa’s voice.

Gwilanna complains that Ag always gets in her way. I don’t see how when that’s the first time he’s got in her way.

When Gwilanna sees the dying Grella, ‘It was the only time I [Agawin] saw her wounded by grief.’ Yet Agawin saw her wounded with grief when he told her Grella wasn’t really her mother.

In previous books, it stated that Gwilanna’s mother was a Premen priestess. Neither Hilde and Grella were premen so this is a lack of consistency. But this detail is necessary to the plot because it’s the driving force behind Gwilanna’s actions.

Voss says he needs Alexa to open the Earth’s Core. However in ‘Dark Fire’, a dragon could open the Core. Voss has a dragon Gawain digging to the Core so he clearly doesn’t need Alexa.

The author talks about how neutrinos can pass through solid objects. Somehow he interprets this as neutrinos being faster than light. That reasoning doesn’t follow.

Rosa touches Zanna and, because existing together is a paradox, Rosa fades. But a paradox is a contradiction and Rosa/Zanna existing at the same time isn’t a contradiction.

It says that icefire is a vital ingredient to animate dragons and give them their firetear. But G’reth and Golly, both animated and with firetears, weren’t made with icefire.

 

I really enjoyed Agawin in the past. Him somehow ending up in the Higher on Co: pern: ica was weird. Him visiting other points in the timeline was interesting. The whole thing about the timeline being corrupted was odd, especially as it brought the modern-day characters into the past. Then resetting the timeline was so unsatisfactory. So the further the book went on, the further my dislike for it grew. For the finale of my favourite childhood series, it was enough good bits to balance out any disappointment.

 

Critique: Fire World (Chris D’Lacey)

This world is called Co: pern: ica and if things aren’t perfect, they’re corrected and the person responsible is sent to the Deadlands. Nothing can go against the ‘Grand Design’. The only species are humans, fire birds and katts. It sounds a bit authoritarian and boring to live there. People imagineer, an ability that allows them to create things, including children. People can’t imagineer in the Deadlands.

 

*****SPOILERS*****

 

The Higher, the thing that rules the world, sits atop the Librarium. We learn that imagineering drains auma which is why it doesn’t work in the Deadlands.

 

 

There was only moment in this book that I enjoyed. Mat tries to get with Rosa, saying they could have a house and books. But Rosa responds, ‘But we couldn’t have David’. That’s simultaneously so sweet but so sad.

 

There are a few writing problems.

In this book, we have ‘computer’ and ‘com: puter’. They aren’t referring to different objects so it’s just a lack of consistency.

The author writes ‘minit’ not ‘minute’. I don’t know what possessed him to do that. Also he uses ‘fain’ instead of ‘Fain’ like he has been doing.

The paragraphs and chapters return to a sensible size in this book. Mostly. The nearer to the end the author got, the larger his paragraphs became.

 

Many moments made you pause for thought. Not because they were deep and meaningful but because they shouldn’t have made it to print.

The characters spend the book being in awe of David’s capable Imagineering but it him creating a floating bubble that amazed them the most. Considering the whole point of bubbles is them floating, I don’t understand.

When David looks out the window he sees his mother yet he only notices Penny when she opens the door. How does that work then?

The author writes about Aunty Gwyneth that ‘badness was engraved in her soul’. Come on! That’s so lazy.

As Gwyneth lies dying, she writes with the dragon claw that she lives. But instead of living in Co: pern: ica, the world she lives in, she appears on Earth. Why on Earth would that happen?

The Higher are humans that evolved beyond the need for a physical body. They’re also described as a collective of pure fain. So they’re humans that became fain, maybe? In previous books, fain came to Earth at the dawn of humanity so we know that fain aren’t humans. Unless they were once humans from a different world?

 

Honestly? This book bored me. I regret reading it. The series wouldn’t lose anything if it was removed.

Yes, seeing a society with different relationships with the fain was an interesting idea, especially when the series started to include the entire universe. But for the characters to be parallels to the characters in the rest of the series? That was far from interesting.

The end was great. Not because of a good conclusion but because I didn’t have to read this book anymore.

 

Critique: Dark Fire (Chris D’Lacey)

 

*****SPOILERS*****

 

There were plenty of positives in this book: the author’s upped his game from the last two instalments.

All dragons’ names start with a ‘G’ because ‘To have the sign of Godith on your breath is a mark of respect.

In the previous book, Henry gave Alexa cardboard cut-out fairies. For Henry’s funeral, Alexa wears one. So sweet.

Henry’s solicitors are from ‘Hamilton, Portley and Smythe’. Lucy assumes the one in front of her is Portley because he’s fat. Funny.

We finally learn the anatomy that kept the Pennykettles away from hospitals! It’s a really interesting idea and it would be a shame to spoil it.

Lucy’s friend Melanie comes to visit and Bonnington morphs. ‘And Melanie Cartwright turned into a faint.’ That had me giggling.

The descriptions of white fire becoming strands of flesh for the unicorn were beautiful. Top-notch writing.

 

There are multiple inconsistencies between this book and the previous ones. One or two I could have overlooked but there were just too many here.

As the shaman Taliriktug is dying, he sneers penicillin. Yet the last time we saw him, he revelled in western things. Why the sudden change?

Arthur says dragontongue is akin to Gaelix. In previous books it’s described as the sacred language of the Inuit shamans. Inuit shamanic language and Gaelic are nothing alike.

It says that Gruffen remembers Glade. But Gruffen was newly made when David first arrived at Wayward Crescent so Melanie must have been given Glade after David arrived. Yet it says that most of the dragons had never seen a mood dragon before: if the new Gruffen has then all the others certainly have as well! This is especially considering Liz made no new special dragons after Gadzooks and probably 99% of all dragons in the house were made by Liz.

The author writes ‘Ms Ghee’ but in previous books he uses ‘Mizz’ instead of ‘Ms’. Why the sudden change?

Gawaine’s urine washes over the sybil Ms Ghee which dissolves her clothes and flesh yet for some reason not her bones. Also, she’s a sybil so she’s either a descendent of Gwilanna or another Premen. As Ms Ghee is with Bella, a descendent of Guinevere, it’s safe to assume Ms Ghee is, too. Thus surely she should be protected from being hurt by Gawaine like Lucy and Bella?

Gwilanna says the descendants of Guinevere were born through a quickened egg, never a natural birth. Yet we know Gwendolen was born from an egg and we know Gwendolen had natural descendants via birth. Gwilanna knows this because she was surprised Zanna, a natural born, had powers.

 

A lot of moments made you and just think, ‘What?’

Arthur thinks writing with the dragon claw created David. Indeed, Arthur and Liz were meant to have a child long ago: David. The thing is, in this scenario David would be younger than Lucy, which he isn’t.

Rupert wags ‘a finger in promise’. I don’t understand what’s going on there.

The semi-darklings are scaring the pottery dragons to turn their firetears into dark fire. But if it was this easy, why has the Ix not done it before?

David goes to Africa and everyone keeps on saying ‘man’ like a Californian surfer dude.

David tells Mutu, ‘I didn’t tell you what I would do with the dragon.’ Um, he didn’t ask so this was pointless.

David renames Ix:risor as Comm: Ix or Cluster. Having all these synonyms is rather pointless. From here-on-out, ‘Cluster’ is the preferred term.

Lucy says, ‘You’d better carry me, Farrell, if I turn an ankle.’ Makes Tam roar laugh and says lucy as witty… but why? Farrell can mean man of courage/hero but really this seems too tenuous.

David speaks Gwillan’s name in dragontongue. Wouldn’t it just be the same?

Joseph Henry’s auma is inside Gwillan. They ask how Gwillan is, even though Gwillan is dead. Joseph Henry also says he’s happy to be addressed as ‘Gwillan’. This all adds unnecessary confusion. Stick to one name and preferably the name of the one who’s actually still alive: Joseph Henry.

Gawaine kills Hannah but why?

Gawaine needs the unicorn to free her from under the ground. But why? It makes no sense and isn’t explained.

Gawaine’s fire doesn’t burn Lucy or her stuff. Lucy being protected I understand but why her stuff?

The semi-darkling drinks Lucy’s tear and this somehow turns it into a darkling with the ability of very quick parthogenesis. How did the author figure this one out?

The dark fire from Joseph Henry kills Gwilanna (why?) then somehow uses Alexa’s unicorn figuring as a portal to the real unicorn (how?)

How could one tiny dark fire tear invert the entirety of the Fire Eternal? Then Gadzooks somehow catches it with his pencil. There’s been no reason given why this should be possible.

 

There were an unfortunate amount of grammar and punctuation mistakes.

When Z runs a new age shop, quotation marks are around ‘new age’. Why?

Writes ‘darkling’. In previous books, it always starts with a capital. Is this a lack of consistency or a correction?

Zanna says ‘You still haven’t told me what you want?’ This is a statement, not a question, so the question mark is pointless.

We have Zanna’s speech and prose ending with David saying (about Sophie), ‘She’s dead.’ Should be separate.

‘Sweeping a path through the enquiring dragons, most of whom had never seen a mood dragon before (though Gruffen remembered her from years ago) David put Glade on the work bench…’ It should’ve been comma after bracket to enclose a clause.

‘She slammed her foot down hard on the gas.’ Um, it’s set in the UK and written by someone British. Why on Earth did the editors let ‘gas’ appear in this context?

 

Another mistake was made in regards to Bonnington’s morphing abilities. It says he likes to transform into many species like a ‘black panther’. All panthers are black: that’s what makes them panthers. Further, ‘panther’ isn’t a species but is the black morph of any species in the genus Panthera.

The story ends in a dramatic way. Well, the synopsis is dramatic: how it turned out in the book was lack lustre. The dragon queen Gawaine was meant to draw the Ix into her and then enter the Fire Eternal to destroy the Ix. Instead the unicorn Teramelle sealed her underground. When Gawaine’s awakened, she goes through with it. However, the dark fire (that had been inside Joseph Henry, Liz’s foetus) enters Teramelle who also enters the Fire Eternal. This inverts the Fire Eternal and thousands of Ix come pouring out.

 

So whilst the good bits were the author upping his game, the mistakes were the editors lowering theirs. It’s such a shame because these books have so much potential. In this book there were less things going on so the plot flowed more smoothly than in the past.