This book started on the wrong foot for me. In Toscana, when Will and Halt watched the display of Toscan military might, they witnessed a method of training in which all soldiers lined up tightly and threw javelins simultaneously at an angle specified by a commander. Additionally, one line of soldiers was protected by a front line of soldiers with shields. They were both impressed - Will even called it "brilliant" - but did they forget that that is the EXACT same method that Will used to train his team of unskilled archers in Skandia?!? Did the author completely forget that he already used that strategy in an earlier book!?
From then on, I think I was just waiting for the book to redeem itself, and maybe I was harder on it than I might have been otherwise. I was already wary when Alyss and Evanlyn had their "incident", in which they both acted immature and petty (though I think Evanlyn was much more of a brat). Of all the many characters in this book - all of whom were, like Mary Poppins, "practically perfect in every way" - it bothered me that the only two to be burdened with significant flaws were the two women. And to make matters worse, they were fighting over a man! Ugh. We can't just have two strong women characters without having to entangle them in a love triangle? Yes, perhaps the author was setting the groundwork for the meaningful reconciliation at the end, however, I think he could have gotten the jealousy across without having the women behave so childishly. Or better yet, couldn't he have contrived some other reason for them to be at odds, rather than make it about a man?
Which brings me to another major complaint: throughout the book, both Alyss and Evanlyn were called "girls", both by the narrative author and by other characters in the book. Evanlyn led a world-wide expedition, and Alyss was a full-fledged Courier - by any measure, they should have been called "women", especially because Will and Horace, who were the same age as Alyss, were never called "boys".
Since I seem to be listing the negatives first, I might as well mention my disappointment at the end. When Alyss and Evanlyn go off on their mission, I thought it was great! Here, the two women would prove - once again - their bravery and worth. And yet, I thought the whole bit about the two of them killing the "Terror" in the forrest was just over the top. Surely if such a massive beast attacked Alyss with all its weight behind it, at the very least Alyss's shield arm would have been broken!
Specific grievances aside, on the whole, I still liked this book. Much more so than previous books in the series, this installment featured an ensemble of characters, and if anyone was a "main character", I think it was Horace! My favorite! So I enjoyed seeing him on his own in Nihon-Ja, and developing his relationship with Shigeru the Emperor. I liked reading about Nihon-Ja as a fictional rendition of Japan, though I have to admit, I'm not sure who the tall, long- and red-haired Hasanu were supposed to be! Perhaps they were a return to the kind of fantasy that appeared in the first couple books.
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