Pre09:
Pretty sure this was the travel book to the other continent.
Still good stuff. Not as solid as the other two. ( )

The continued adventures of the unlikely duo of Tarrant and Vryce. Simultaneous Enemies & Allies. In truth, nothing new that you haven't read in the first book, just more color and geography as they range further out across Erna. ( )

I know that there are folks out there who are huge fans of these books, and frankly I can imagine that I might have really loved this series if I had read it when I was 12 years old or so. But I didn’t, and coming to story at this point left me rather disappointed. I find Tarrant to be utterly unbelievable and Vryce’s struggles with the moral dilemma of working with Tarrant get old fast. These are shallow characters inhabiting an unconvincing world battling a more or less nonsensical nemesis.

Still, there were a couple of effective scenes (I was surprisingly moved by the sea captain's religious conversion). And it’s better than Terry Goodkind at his worst (if that's not damning with faint praise I don't know what would be). ( )

Please see my "Black Sun Rising" review for thoughts on the series. ( )

I didn't enjoy this second installment of the Coldfire Trilogy nearly as much as the first. Where in Black Sun Rising Damien's pangs of conscience about his relationship with Tarrant were insightful, in When True Night Falls they became repetitive, trite, predictable... even whiny. This was likewise the case with most of the story-line here - very predictable. The big "surprise" at the end wasn't surprising at all.

Although the story-telling itself was still fun, the conclusion was a massive letdown. Instead of leading the reader to understand things through the story, Friedman employs the tired literary device of having a character who pretty much appears solely for the purpose of exposition. If you have to explain to me what happened after I've already read 500+ pages of your book, then something is missing from the telling of it in the first place. Likewise with Tarrant's final explanation of his decision - it shouldn't be necessary in a well-told plot.

Despite it's fun-ness, I was ultimately disappointed with this book. That said, the last chapter and the epilogue do show some promise for the final installment. Here's hoping it's not as big of a letdown. ( )