Review: Nicely Done.
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 09 6, 2012
As I recently discussed earlier, Elizabeth McCoy is a damn good author. Herb-Witch (the first book of the series) ends with you being hurtled over a figurative cliff (as opposed to just hanging there). I hate cliffhangers. No really, I hate them, they annoy me and they must die. I hate the wait. I hate the wondering. Hate, hate, hate. And yeah, if you're curious Jim Butcher drove me freaking nuts with his latest Dresden Files books. Other than my deep abiding hatred and loathing of cliffhangers I liked the first book and I sure as hell liked the second one. Herb-Wife picks up where Herb-Witch left off, again, I won't spoil it but the title should give away at least some of it. Kessa, Iathor, and that unpredictable bastard Iason are back. The second book quite succinctly sums up just about everything I could want summed up but I'm still left with questions and even a few doubts (but that's the case with nearly every bit of fiction out there).As a sometimes writer myself I know one thing: endings are hard. You cannot possibly tie up every string, thread, and spool of plot there is. And if you tried, you'd go mad. Still you can tie up the big ones and even a few of the small ones, and in the end that's the best you can do. McCoy nails it pretty close to the mark, making sure most of the plots are tied with a ribbon and a bell. Also there is a refreshing lack of plot-holes (on either proverbial ceiling or floor). The dialogue remains witty and the attention to details remains high. The book in general was a real page-turner and I must admit I finished it in less than three days of before-bed reading.Again, the vagueness of geography threw me off a bit; places and names were mentioned but with only the barest of descriptions. There was also one instance of "Why is that character here" but it was justified enough later on that and I was suitably mollified. I was rather disappointed by the book length, I felt the author could have gone on a bit more and I found myself at the end far too quickly. Both books of the Lord Alchemist's Duology are worth acquiring if you have a love of low-magic fantasy worlds or alchemy in general