We have arrived at the fifth book in this series, and one should note that the second book, written by Carr and Green, was revised by Carr. Kalvan was a pretty good book and not very long, packing in a great deal in its 250 pages. It was an extension of the Paratime world of H. Beam Piper.

Carr and Green added to this and left us in a place that they didn't need to add to. But something nagged at Carr and he decided to add more. Is this a great addition to that continuation? Not as good as some of the previous work.

The last book before this was based on a short story the two wrote where our hero loses his capitol and is chased from his country, with all his followers in tow. This book is what happens next. Some places the plot is well thought out, other places it is not. When you conceptualize half a million people on the road by horse and wagon, as an author you can gloss over the details, but in reality such a migration is larger then the voortrek. Glossing over this and rebounding the civilization within a few seasons lessons the story by the suspension of disbelief. We have done so in some areas, but others can't be done. Further the moving of the story from the Pennsylvania area to the Great lakes makes it hard for us to follow some of the other political nuances that Carr has set-up. Particularly having some independent armies follow Kalvan when they are certain to not gain anything by it. All in all, Carr is losing some of the plot for wanting to write a large book. ( )