This was a relatively weak book for me in the series.

Alain going back in time was not great for me. All of those sections dragged, and felt overall unnecessary. And there was a lot of Alain time in this one!

Conversely, there wasn't enough Stronghand. More Stronghand is more better, so that was another knock.

Liath also suffered from the Alain problem. Taking her out of the action and only checking in on her for interludes didn't work for me. While taking her out of the main characters orbits entirely I think was a mistake overall, it was compounded by the fact that her chapters were also pretty thin. Her moving through the spheres could have been this Dantean journey, and it comes out just sort of vignettes.

Rosvita and Hanna were the stronger characters for me. They're both pretty likeable, and they were closest to the action.

Sanglant was okay. I don't love him, although I enjoy his plot development. I think the issue is he's our main "getting to do stuff" character right now, and while those parts are fun, he's a little flat otherwise. I get it, he wants to bang every hottie they come across even though he misses Liath who may or may not have abandoned him. But it's not very endearing.

The Ivar plot continues to be a waste. Nothing interesting happens with them. I care not one iota about Baldwin and Ivar.

Fuck Hugh and Anne though.