Arguably the most difficult, unpleasant and depressing things, however, is reading to the end of 'Autumn Mist'. One of he major problems with this book is the way that the specifications of the various weapons is clearly a higher priority in the author's mind than such niceties as plot and characters.
Historical accuracy is one thing, using it to smother any form of dramatic tension is another.
Indeed, all the possible benefits of the book have, however unwittingly, been set up to take a fall. The one truly dramatic and moving event, a small but horrific massacre, is completely and utterly undermined by Sam's miraculous survival at the hands of the Sidhe. And her journey through the lands of the Sidhe is downright repetitive in the light of a similar journey undertaken in 'Dominion' recently, where the descriptive passages were the bright spot in a similarly nondescript book. The Sidhe themselves are, against all odds, curiously lacklustre. Possibly the fault of this is in the way their Queen Titania is introduced.