Rudi makes it across the Great Lakes, with much fighting, and reaches Maine, where he meets with kindred souls (more of the Nordic persuasion than Celtic) and finally gets to Nantucket. The big battle against the CUT is not yet. This book ends on a very spiritual tone as the 3 Norns try to explain how/why there is evil before they actually give him the Sword. Meanwhile, Stirling touches on the idea that all true religions have the same goal and that, after all a) there is only one God; b) there are many ways to interpret God; c) there are many paths to find God.

I would caution readers that the emotional impact of these stories stems from reading them all in sequence. ( )

More o f the same. ( )

this series continues to get better with each book, which is not the norm for lengthy series'. this book concluded the second trilogy and i am eagerly awaiting the next three. ( )

Rudi and friends at the end arrive in Nantucket. They do lose one of their members. This series is just pulling me along. I had known I would finish over the weekend so had the next book in the series ready to go once I closed the cover on this one. ( )

12/2011 I was able to read this the second time through with more leisure. The first time was a heedless rush to find out what happened next. This time was more fun, though I did notice Stirling's tendency to mistrust that his reader gets it more. Stop hitting us over the head already. But a lovely conclusion to the second trilogy, and a nice stepping-off point for the third. The which I hope will finish the series for good and for all.

12/2010 Entirely satisfying conclusion to the second Emberverse trilogy. There's a bit more adventure, a bit less navel-gazing than the previous book. The not-quite zombie Cutter villains were a little over-the-top, but I'm so invested in the series by now I'm willing to let Stirling toss in some weirdness.

The biggest problem for me with these books (and this one especially) is that Stirling doesn't trust his readers to ferret out the subtleties so he hits us over the heard with 'em again and again.

Still and all, a rollicking good read. ( )