“Dead Hand Rule” by Max Gladstone

After finishing this book the first thing I had to do was catch my breath. Once I had it, I needed to let out a scream of frustrated rage that I don’t have book 4.

I will avoid spoilers as best I can, beyond what can be found on the back of the book.

Things are coming full circle; this book takes place entirely within Alt Coulomb. The King in Red has convened his conference of the Powers That Be (and the Powers That Do Not Be are invited too, of course) to plan an alliance to deal with the coming threat from beyond the stars. Only through unity, Craftsmen and Pantheons working together, is there any hope of surviving what’s coming.

Of course the flaw in this is that literally everyone who has enough power for a seat at the table got there by fighting each other for it, and maneuvering for power and position between the fights. Tara and company are asking them to change the habits of a lifetime, or life*times* for many of them. It’s not at all clear that they are capable of this; a leopard cannot change his spots. Even if they are, it’s certainly clear that they’re more concerned about each other, and making sure when the crisis is passed they are the ones to come out of it in the best position.

Meanwhile everyone smiles, attends presentations, complains about the length of the line at Muerte Coffee, and the actual work takes place in backrooms and informal settings.

But all of that is background. I was here for the people. Tara, and Caleb, and Abelard, and Kai, and Izza, and Mal, and Dawn (yes, definitely including Dawn) and all the rest we’ve collected over the books. As far as they’re concerned, this book was very, very frustrating, but in a good way. I care about them all; they generally care about each other (some don’t really know each other, like, say, Abelard and Mal, but still). And it’s frustrating when them being true to themselves and their convictions leads to them being on different sides, despite their mutual respect and common goals.

It all works. It all makes sense for the characters. It’s upsetting and frustrating to read.

And, as before, damn it Tara you don’t have to do everything yourself. Yes, that is still a character flaw. No, I did not expect otherwise.

So yeah. Frustrating, but the frustration of a well-crafted novel and well-realized characters coming into necessary conflict.

Fair warning: I am extremely un-satisfied with the ending, because it ends on a cliffhanger. Everything is coming to the end, one way or another. Extremely impatient for book 4.