What ( )

Pros: great story, lots of intrigue

Cons:

Picking up immediately where Antiphon finished, Requiem follows everyone as the Y’Zir forces conquer the Named Lands. Jin has taken her son to the Y’Zirite capital, Ahm’s Glory, and met the Empress she’s supposed to kill. Rudolfo has been given a position of authority within the Empire that he doesn’t want but can’t refuse. Vlad Li Tam searches for the Wizard’s spellbook to go with the staff he carries. A strange mechanical has emerged, sharing dreams with Charles the Arch-Engineer of Mechanical Science and giving Winters hope that the Final Dream of her people has not been lost. And Neb is on the moon, unsure of what to do.

There’s no reintroduction of people or events so be sure to brush up on the previous books before starting this one. Though the book does contain a glossary at the end if there’s a character, etc. you don’t recognize.

There are a lot of great turns in the book and we’re finally getting more answers than twists as prophecies reach fulfillment. There’s still a lot of political intrigue and quiet action, and several things that happen at the end of this book imply a great number of twists for the final volume.

This is a fantastic series that interweaves a great many plots and really keeps you guessing. ( )

I had really high hopes for this series when it started. The first two books are excellent! However, it started to veer off course in book 3 and just get worse in Requiem, book 4. It certainly appeared at the end of book 3 that we would see the end of the series in Requiem. The protagonists are all scattered as the 'revolution' brought about by the Crimson Empress seems to overwhelm all opposition. For the most part, those fighting against the followers of the very bloody religion are reduced to minor acts of rebellion, not serious opposition. Unfortunately, the author dragged that all out for the whole of book 4 - and its not over. While it seemed like Neb and his allies would have to succeed at their mission, its still going on. There seems to be too much reliance on predestination and the ability of some to predict it, plus in this book we discover that this is just a part of a long cycle of destruction and rebuilding. I guess we'll find out in the next book if the cycles of destruction end, but I really would have preferred to find out in this book. It really felt like the author was compelled to stretch this out to more books, rather than bringing it to a conclusion. ( )