The Wheel of Osheim (The Red Queen's War #3)
Every book I’ve read by Mark Lawrence has been a huge treat. His turn of phrase is exceptional, his characters incredibly engaging and his creation of The Broken Empire is epic in scope and displays a talent and work ethic most writers can only dream of. The Wheel of Osheim gives readers some nice resolutions and an idea of what to expect from the next series but personally was not my favourite of his books which really means it was only good as opposed to brilliant, like some of the some of his previous books.
*Some Spoilers ahead
The Liars Key left us hanging in a glorious fashion. Snorri had just ripped Jalan into Hel, missing him performing a masterful piece of pickpocketing to resecure Loki’s key, in order to save his family. With Jalan winging it for much of the series so far Snorri’s quest had become the emotional focus of the story for me so it was a surprise to jump back into the story with Jalan leaving Hel. It released most of the tension that had long been building as I questioned the fate of these two amazing characters between books. It both established that Jalan had made it out of Hel with the worst being the loss of his pants during a sexual tryst with a succubus and further denied me the plot line of Snorri finding his family, which was at that point paramount for me.
We do get to learn of the events that take place in Hel through some flashbacks but those coincide with Jalan being under stress, usually during a fight or something exciting meaning we are torn out of the action often when it is just getting going. It didn’t quite work for me as the timing of the revelations did not seem to increase their importance to the other story line and looking back I’d have preferred to have read them in chronological order. I really liked Mark’s Hel, the idea of creating an afterlife around various myths and religious structures and a combination of parts of the Roman and Greek belief systems really rang true and allowed me to conjure up my own demons. I found the concept of living under the realisation of not only knowing what one’s truest and deepest fear is but also having the absolute certain knowledge that no matter what your purest thought is that eventually those fears will manifest and destroy you, absolutely fucking horrific.
With the first two books in the series we literally got to drown in quotable dialogue and enjoy the wonder of just existing with these two characters as they both inspired us and made us laugh. In the third book the focus is more on world developing of the Broken Empire and it’s key players including the Red Queen, the Blue Lady and the Silent Sister and we don't get the same sense of fun and frivolity. At this point I’m not hugely invested or able to relate to these characters due to their more supernatural characteristics and because they seem to come in and out but never really stick around. I have no doubt their fates and futures will be come clear in the up coming series but there was a sense of treading water here.
My final frustration came with the incredibly vast and changing Broken Empire itself and identifying locations and objects. The right clue at the perfect moment can reveal something previously referred to as a heirloom/antique/relic to be an explosive weapon but I was not sure if these relics were weapons because people believed they were or because they actually were and several times I felt I was being showered with clues and yet had no way to confirm where I was supposed to be. The reality of the final scene for instance was tantalizing out of my reach and I had a best guess of what was going on but not a full picture.
I have no doubt there will be fans of Mark’s that will love this, I just cant seem to summon that feeling I normally have when finishing one of his books.
