[Teresa Edgerton]

I found the Gorethrians and "their almost aesthetic delight in war and bloodshed" to be quite fascinating, and despite the fact that their Empire is falling to pieces by the end of the book, I would hope to see more of Ashurek's countrymen and to learn a lot more about them in the later books.

Even though the dialogue is a little bit awkward at times, and the frequent point of view shifts can be confusing, there are places where the descriptions and the imagery are really quite wonderful, particularly in some of the action sequences:

"And then a great brown tidal wave came careering towards them, made now of rock, now water, now glass. Flocks of screaming things came with it. At this the sweating horses left their riders no choice but took off like a whirlwhind through the polluted, pulsing atmosphere. As they galloped, the trees and leech-like apes overtook them and vanished. The beats of aching light grew slower and heavier, paining the senses."