Cav's Place

Must start with the fact that the writing style and structure are once again better, not at the level of Time of Contempt or Baptism of Fire but definitely moving away from what made Tower of the Swallow and Lady of the Lake confusing and hard to follow, and gave characters so little chance to shine in those books. It does feel strange to go back to the beginning after the end, but at the same time Season of Storms simply feels just about “right” again, or at least a whole lot more comfortable. The characters seem to be themselves again, the story and atmosphere are fitting, there’s plenty of humor without it seeming forced, everything simply flows quite naturally, and some answers may also be found for questions which so far had none.
On the other hand, the answer provided for the most important question is hardly an answer, leaving the matter just about as open to debate and speculation as it was after Lady of the Lake, while a few others may be answers to questions you didn’t even know you had, or should have had, so far. And there are questions left unanswered regarding the story contained in this book in itself, and certain moments and events are treated too shallowly, on top of the general fact that it’s shorter and less detailed than I consider a fantasy book should be. But, of course, that holds true for all the books in the series, yet they build upon each other and, if you take it as the end instead of the beginning, there is more than enough for it to stand on, without it being required to offer that much worldbuilding and context on its own.

Rating: 4/5