A Knife in the Dark - Howard Shore

The Dragon of Despair
Firekeeper Saga, Book 3

Author: Jane Lindskold
Pages: 729
Publisher: Tor

Brief Summary:
Firekeeper and her friends are back, this time aiming to stop yet another foul plot of Melina's. After they left New Kelvin, the magical artifacts safely destroyed, Melina managed to marry The Healed One, a powerful figure in New Kelvin. Clearly, Melina with power cannot be a good thing, so the gang is sent to figure out what she is up to and, should it be bad for Hawk Haven (which it likely will be), how to put an end to it.

Review:
At this point, I am somewhat regretting having picked up free copies of the first five books in this series. Having done so, I feel compelled to read them all. Unfortunately, I am not any more enthused by this series than I was at the beginning, perhaps less so. For whatever reason, the characters and plots have never particularly interested in me.

My complaints here are similar to my complaints for the two previous books in the series. First of all, for an epic fantasy series, there is remarkably little action. Second of all, in addition to there being a dearth of action, romance lacks almost entirely as well. Without either of these, getting any real excitement going is tough. Not that there cannot be good books without these things, however, I do not think the writing and plotting are good enough to carry the reader without them in this case.

Speaking of romance, I am now three books into a six book series and there has been absolutely no romance, except for one mutual affection (upon which no action has been taken beyond talk), one unrequited crush, and some action for Melina, the bad guy. What the heck? This pretty much disproves one stereotype, the one that women are always more interested in romance than men. The Wheel of Time series has tons of romance in it, whereas, this one, penned by a woman, focuses instead on politics.

Two (maybe three, since, at that point, I might as well complete the series) books to go. I sure hope they get more interesting soon!