text: I'm still trying to remember why I liked Age of Myth, the first novel in this series. Whatever that was, it wasn't really present in the sequel. Though some of the characters are engaging and the overall story line is interesting enough, this book takes a few leaps that seemed forced in order to level the playing field between two races. A society going from the stone age to the copper age to the iron age (and discovering many of the technological and cultural advancements that come with those transitions) in a matter of weeks thanks to recurring epiphanies by two or three characters... well, let's just say it's all a bit rushed and bordering on repeated examples of deus ex machina (a phrase I've never used before, but which seems entirely appropriate in this case). Sadly, this book--which the author admitted is his favorite in the series--has me questioning whether to continue to Book Three.