Cloud Castles

The first two books in this trilogy were both in the 5 star category. Scott Rohan's weaving of the past, the mundane and the mythical into a wonderfully detailed and evocative magic-carpet is excellent. This sort of skill hasn't been seen since Zelazny. I found this book less entertaining than the the first parts of the trilogy, because Rohan has chosen Europe as his canvas. He does it well, but it is an overworked canvas, with nazi-villans, again. With the whole of history to draw on, there are plenty of other disgusting characters available. I preferred Fisher as a man still learning to come to terms with himself. The publishers have not re-issued the earlier parts of one of the best fantasy series of the last twenty years. These books have been inadequately publicised and have not recieved the degree of aclaim they deserve.

It's obvious that author Michael Scott Rohan has become very comfortable writing in the world of the "Spiral" that he's created. This is his third book he has written using this world and the same main character and it shows. This one definitely flows a lot more smoothly and his confidence is also reflected in the character of Stephen Fisher. No longer the self doubting hollow man (thank god) that he was, he is now the CEO of a major shipping company and can move between the "Core" and the "Spiral" with relative ease. Luckily Mr. Rohan has the imagination to come up with quite a challenge for his main character or it could've gotten boring watching Stephen Fisher swagger through life. One thing I did miss though was there wasn't the boat trips on old sailing ships that served as a catalyst in the first two books. Despite that though this book does seem to be an overall step foward for this series. I knew this was a good one when I kept being late because I just couldn't put the book down and wanted to read "just one more page". I hope this isn't the last we've seen of Stephen Fisher, the "Core" and the "Spiral". =: )