The Gossamer Plain

This is the start of a new trilogy that follows Kaanyr Vhok and Aliisza, some time after the events that happened the multi-author War of the Spider Queen. Book one is basically a set up and a cliffhanger. Not much gets resolved by the end of it, just lots of twists, manipulations, and betrayals, somewhat typical of evil-oriented books - meaning, not much surprise there.

What I primarily didn't like was how slow it was. The pacing is really for the first half, which only picks up towards the end. I guess this set up was for the entire trilogy, and not just this book. It didn't help that I don't like Kaanyr Vhok here. In War of the Spider Queen, he's this warlord out to expand his territory and influence. But here, he doesn't strike me as particularly charismatic or intimidating enough to be a leader of a powerful, though relatively small, army. I just didn't find him impressive.

Comparatively, Aliisza's viewpoints were the most interesting. She's really coming into her own as a character and I look forward to seeing how that gets developed.

On the side of good, we have a deva who's responsible for Aliisza. And that's about all you can describe of him. Similar to Kaanyr, he's not quite fleshed out and remains one-dimensional.

Plot-wise, it reads like a set up to something big that's coming up, what with that cliffhanger at the end. And that's about what this book is. All the major and minor plot arcs in this book are unresolved. Couple that with the slow build-up, it only mildly piqued my interest. Well, onward to book two to see what happens next.