Cyndi J. (cyndij) reviewed on 7/10/2022 + 1033 more book reviews

Fourth in the series. The five main characters - Cithrin, Marcus, Clara, and Geder - continue their various battles. I was surprised in the second book when Clara became one of the main characters, and now I find her equally as interesting as the others. Most of the time, she's managed to wall off her emotions at having one son as a spider priest. Her ability to talk truthfully without saying anything important is a major skill. I thought Inys would play a larger part in this book but I was happy not to have anything cliched; interested to see if Abraham is going to do something major with him in the next. It's nice to see Marcus and Cithrin meet up again, and now Clara knows them too. And Cithrin invents paper money and the national debt at the same instant! Very cool. I really liked the revelations of how the spiders came to be, and the implications of the spread of the Goddess. They can tell when someone's lying, and they can convince a person of anything. So what happens when a slight deviation of doctrine creeps in? Holy wars everywhere, that's what. Geder continues to be the tyrant with tiny redeeming qualities, but I'm hping for an awful end to him.

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