The Wandering Inn: Volume 4 by Pirateaba
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I know I shouldn't feel sucker-punched like this at the end of the novel, but here I am, gobsmacked and shook.

A little description of the book as a whole: Mostly we've got a good amount of comfort food here. Erin especially. I'm really enjoying the errant skeleton and our baby goblin lord, too, but here's the strange bit: When we get to the full, or some might say, exhaustive, recounting of the second great war, I imagined that a lot of readers might start getting sleepy or something. To me, I was engrossed in it and loved every second. We got a fairly dry recounting of great past events, but it's fascinating to see how so many of the characters who were IN that war are listening or re-reading the account on the eve of ANOTHER great war. Their reactions, recollections, and us getting so many pieces of the big story all at once was pretty damn fantastic to me.


And then, because we all knew this was just the calm before the storm, the actual battle was rather mind-blowingly good. The scale was great. And Silvertail? Hats off to this guy. Seriously. My new favorite character in this already impressive series.

Now, it's rather interesting to see a series focus so much on healing and socializing and becoming better people smack you on the back of the head with an extremely competent and moving battle (several, actually) that is rife with hate and desperation. It is SURPRISING.

I think this is where I start to see the series as getting a bit closer to a WoT successor. Not quite yet, perhaps, but I'm becoming seriously impressed. Now, thanks to this novel, I have nothing but the smell of popcorn with yeast on it. And yes, it IS quite tasty. It's a wonderful bit of synesthesia.



Personal note:
If anyone reading my reviews might be interested in reading my own SF, I'm going to be open to DM requests. I think it's about time I get some eyes on them.

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