Review: Much better
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 05 28, 2013
Just when I was starting to get fed up with Tor's personality, a good explanation comes along, as well as an improvement. the story is less about giving goodies left and right, which gets boring after a while, as much as I am fascinated with his creativity, bt more about the mechanics behind everything, and moving along the plot. We see it happening here with a deeper explanation of the history behind the universe, as well as the beginning of  true economic improvement, and Tor finaly understanding he would help more by not giving away stuff but helping people be self sufficient. The author's weakness of using the same plot devices repeatedly (this must be the fourth marriage,and I am expecting a fifth or sixth in the coming books) did not bother me as much, maybe because the plot covered a lot of new ground this time. we know more about the history, we discovered new land and cultures, new interesting characters, and old characters are more fleshed out. This is the best book in the series so far, even better that I remembered after reading the first time. The content is also getting more adult oriented. Whereas I could see children enjoying the first books, this one might need a parental advisory or something, if your are so minded. I think we've turned a corner, and the story should get even much better from now.