Kevin's geas

The Battle of Evernight (The Bitterbynde, 3) by Cecilia Dart-Thornton

TBoE is a brilliant, and almost completely satisfying conclusion to the Bitterbynde. Things take unexpected turn after unexpected turn, as Ashalind (and it's by this name she's mostly known for this book) goes in search of the gate, but has to abandon her quest in order to attempt a rescue of her friends.

The writing is beautiful as ever, and we are introduced to even more varied and equally vivid areas of Erith. The world is as deeply imagined as we've come to expect.

I say 'almost completely satisfying' because for the first time so far, CD-T's need to describe everything begins to get heavy. It's only really noticeable towards the end, which could easily be fifty pages shorter. The story's already venturing into the denouement section and you realise that there is still another sixty-seventy pages to go. I don't need to read lists of food, or recounting of events with no obvious bearing on the plot, just tell me what happened before I get bored.

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One other point, before I go: in the American paperback printing of this book there is an afterward by the author. Don't read it! It is patronising and completely unnecessary, and left me shaking my head and wondering why on earth CD-T needed to put it in.