This was a satisfying end to the series. Although as predicted she was a bit rushed to wrap everything up from the past four novels, the ending left a smile on my face and sad that there wasn’t more to the story.
The plot was a bit scattered and, as with the fourth book, seemed a bit drawn out. If I had to guess her first two books sold well enough that the publisher wanted her to stretch the series out to five and she’d only planned a trilogy or quadrilogy at first and had to add in the extra book/book and a half. There were occasions where the book repeated itself, not just from within the entire series, but from a few pages earlier, and that’s an editing problem. The only other wearying aspect of the novel were her attempts to describe battles, a few of the attempts were spot on, but others the descriptions got a bit unwieldy and left me confused about those involved and what was happening.
I’m definitely glad I finished the series as once I re-read the first novel I realised I never found out what happened with some of the characters. I did find out that she’s written two others series (both trilogies I believe) that exist in various lands that the characters visit throughout this series. I won’t go out of my way to read them, but if I see them at a used bookshop or remember her name in the library I’ll definitely check them out.
Although familiar with Juliet E. McKenna’s Tales of Einarinn, I hadn’t read any since High School. I read the first three (The Thief’s Gamble, The Swordsman’s Oath, and The Gambler’s Fortune) but the final two in the series had not been completed. While I was at home in April I found the original three and wanted to reread them to complete the series. I reread them and it lead me to The Warrior’s Bond.