The time came to find out what was going on with Rap and Inos in Dave Duncan’s A Man of His Word series, so I broke out Perilous Seas and set myself about finding out. I am pleased to say that the third book has once again improved itself. Where the first book introduced a cool world and fun characters, and the second book pulled together the magic system and politics, this one takes all that information and starts pushing the high adventure and romance into the forefront again.

Aside from a cliffhanger that will have me reading the finale very soon indeed, my favorite bit was our heroes growing and the world getting a little smaller and less mysterious as a result (in the good way, like Robert Jordan used to be good at). Inos is busy making difficult, queen-based and woman-based decisions that it would have been impossible to guess she’d be up to in the beginning, and Rap has learned that the only person who’s going to help him save the day for Queen and country is himself, and sets about accomplishing exactly that. I know, character growth is exactly the kind of thing you expect to see in a book, but apparently it happens rarely enough to leave me overly gratified when I actually find it in this context.

Also: oy, the cliffhanger, even worse than the one at the end of The Magic Casement. So, yeah, soon. Next month at the latest.