Not at all where I expected things to pick back up, but extremely well executed, and a lovely read. ( )

Sort of what you might expect from a new series from Weber set in the Bahzellverse if you knew that he'd been sitting on the story for decades as something he really wanted to write. The good news: it avoids much of the over-padding and infodumps which many of his books have shown. Weber's usual strengths are out in force. The bad news: in place of the infodumps there is a lot of foreshadowing coupled with Wencit's refusing to discuss things openly. (I have my suspicions that some of the foreshadowing is in fact misdirection; if it turns out to be, I'll think better of it.) Weber is not, in general, a subtle writer, but he does have enjoyable characters, good action, and some interesting worldbuilding. He has promised, cross his heart, that this series will not get away from him and will be confined to five volumes: we'll see. My ranking of this is provisional; as part of a five part series it may go up or down depending on how it fits into the later plot developments. ( )

Bloody Hand becomes a Dragon Slayer with a little help from a red haired stranger without a memory, Wencik of Rum. and an assassin of note. Mazes, other foul creatures of myth and fantasy are encountered as they seek the Sword of the South guarded by a black wizard and a fortress. Back at home Gwynna is streaking through mage training and accelerated maturity to fulfill her destined role in this fun fantasy series. A good storyline and excellent characters keep this series interesting and engaging. On to the next book. ( )

A very weird story. For much of it, I was at least as confused as Kenhodan, though some of his past became clear pretty early. I didn't figure out the last bit until the cat-eyed wizard was so confused about it, though. Wulfra was a pain, and not nearly as dangerous as she thought she was; the cat-eyed wizard is going to be a pain in the future, though he's still a novice against a master in Wencit. The first part of the story was especially confusing because there were things mentioned - and time past - that I didn't know anything about - Gwynna, as a first step, though the Iron Axe was pretty bewildering all by itself. Again - I was just as confused as Kenhodan, and got enlightenment the same way, a couple chapters in. Of course, Kenhodan's amnesia is definitely of the convenient type - he knows how _Norfressans_ regard hradani, and if he really were what he's written to be, he shouldn't. Or something. That may be explained in later books, but for this particular story, it just reads as convenient for the author what he knows and doesn't know. Lots of new info, both about Kontovar and about places in Norfressa we haven't seen before - the Dragon Wards were never mentioned before that I can recall, and South Keep is impressive. There are a lot of references to Sword Brother - too many, I think; Trayn is fine, but the whole thing with Ken and Kenhodan...just doesn't work for me. It seemed to detract from the point of the story (though at least Weber lampshaded it, Kenhodan was aware there was something weird with Bahzell about him). Interesting story, I was delighted to see Bahzell and Brandark and all the rest again, and I definitely want to read the rest, but...not as good as the original book, to me. Which leaves lots of room for it to be great, just not quite _as_ great. ( )