Stronghold

Will review at www.fantasyliterature.com.

Hard to put down but also a bit hard to follow. Done with Melanie Rawn's inimitable style and unforgettable characters, with a bit too much POV-switching to really keep a hold of it. This book encompasses a huge conflict over the scale of a whole continent, and every chapter visits a huge number of locations. This one's a bit harder to keep track of than the previous three or Ruins of Ambrai. I'm also really not sure what happened at the end.

I bought these a while back but didn't get around to reading them until now. I still fondly recall the original trilogy and this book managed successfully to recapture that nostalgic feeling.

The author's strong characterisation is again very evident in this book. You get inside the heads of many major characters and get to see their motivations and things from different perspectives. Granted, the years between my reading of the trilogies has diluted my memories to the point that I can't really comment on whether there were any behavioural deviations (still, the fact that decades have passed more than excuses any inconsistencies).

The plot starts off slow and meandering, letting the reader savour the fruits of Rohan's labour, of the long-lasting peace that had been forged. Once the raiders arrive, the plot picks up speed and never lets off, all the way to a sad ending. I applaud Melanie Rawn for daring to kill off quite a few major characters along the way.

There's one thing that sort of irked me though. I loved the prose and how all the perspective jumps were done smoothly, but I can't wrap my head around the military engagements. I guess I'm not convinced that the author was in familiar ground; most of the sieges and battles felt unrealistic. But, suspending disbelief, most of these situations seem to serve the cause of character development.

It was definitely an enjoyable read, making me recall the events in the first trilogy. The finale is a cliffhanger though, albeit a logical one. The enemy is still faceless in the sense that you still have no idea who they are and what they want. This book is definitely meant as a bridge from the first trilogy; to transition readers into a new state of reality.