In general I'm a fan of McKiernan's Mithgar books, but not this one. There just isn't enough here to get excited about. There is a very cliche Necromancer who does really stupid things; long sea voyages; and adventures with predictable endings and little risk. Unfortunately his stories are getting repetitive, if there's a Warrow involved, one or more of them will be the hero and save the day, and the good guys always win. Its also not very interesting when the sailing ship involved is a fast clipper ship while everyone else has slow cogs or junks. This isn't 'Master and Commander' meets Tolkien, very far from it, though it tries. ( )

I thoroughly enjoyed all the bits about Pipper and Binkton. The rest of the stories fell flat for me. A mediocre Mithgar tale at best. ( )

For long-time readers of McKiernan's work this book has to be something of a disappointment. Too much of the book is taken up providing background information for newcome readers. All those pages of characters discussing, for one reason or another, what has gone on in the past was tiresome. I admit it would be interesting to those reading a McKiernan book for the first time but couldn't the information have been put in an appendix?

It might be my own crankiness, but I thought the plot was not up to McKiernan's usual standard. It wasn't dull but it held little in the way of surprises.

On the plus side it was a McKiernan book. so it was well-written and the characters were well defined and interesting. The ecology of magic in McKiernan's Mithgar books is logical and fascinating.