Empire of Ivory

…In the end Empire of Ivory offers a better structured and more complete story arc of its own, centred on the mysterious disease, than the previous book. I have seem some complaints in other reviews that the novel takes its time to get going but that is certainly not my experience. It does take a little time get reacquainted with the situation in England, which after an absence of a year can hardly be a surprise. It does end in a major cliffhanger however. If you don't like that in a book then this one might be a bit annoying for you. I think the ending does offer some interesting action in book five but on the other hand some of the heavier themes in the books are not quite given the attention they deserve and the series remains rather light because of that. Still, it is good to see Novik improve on the rather poor Black Powder War, it will be interesting to see if she can keep the momentum going in Victory of Eagles.

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