Etched in Bone

I listened to this entire series as audiobooks on my commutes. This was the final installment in the Lakeside courtyard stuff (Anne Bishop is evidently not done in Thaisia, though). Overall I enjoyed the series best when it got all political and addressed the humans and the terra indigene trying to duke it out for land. This last book felt like a pretty strong narrowing of scope.

Cyrus Montgomery was an awful villain. I mean he was an awful PERSON, first and foremost, but when the series has spent 4 previous books establishing the dangers posed by the terra indigene, a whole book of someone as arrogant and stupid as he was going around completely oblivious to the truth of every idiot scheme he comes up with is REALLY frustrating. At least he got his inevitable comeuppance.

Overall I enjoyed this series a lot but I think the writing has its weaknesses. Dialogue is not Bishop's strong suit; a lot of characters speak really stiffly and the things they say often flow really unnaturally and feel excessively expository. In book 5 of a series like this one it really isn't necessary for every character to call each other by full names and titles. “Steve Ferryman, the mayor of Ferryman's Landing, will be arriving later today to discuss the cassandra sangue, or blood prophets, living in his settlement...” it just feels really clunky. It didn't ruin the story for me or anything but it is definitely a weak point in the series for me.

Really, though, I was here for Meg and Simon all along. I'd happily read another 5 books about the two of them.