Wow, there have been a lot of fantasy sequels/series volumes out these past few weeks.

The Rose Field, the final installment of the second trilogy (called The Book of Dust) of Philip Pullman's series about Lyra Belacqua, was a compelling read, a frequently violent road trip that has side quests into fantastic set pieces, but it was ultimately pretty dissatisfying for me. The ending didn't stick the landing: I kept thinking, "But what about Plot Point X? And Plot Point Y?" etc. And these aren't trivial issues, either.

I'm currently reading Dead Hand Rule, the latest volume of Max Gladstone's Craft Wars series. So far it's mostly about the heroes of the first series coming together in the city of Alt Coulomb to gather allies for a push again the current Big Bad, whose rise to power was told in the first two books. It's good to see Tara Abernathy, Kai Pohala, Caleb Altemoc, Abelard (yay!), and Cat Elle (yay!) again. Mostly everyone is having regrets about their actions thus far and dealing with difficult potential allies, including some previous foes. I'm waiting for the storyline to start hitting on all cylinders, and hopeful that it will eventually do so.

Next up will be the latest Penric and Desdemona novella by Lois McMaster Bujold, "Testimony of Mute Things," which I understand will be a dive backward into Penric and Des' shared past.