the narration shifted to anne, daughter of the nominal villain of previous book, which was a bit jarring, since at the beginning anne - a severely introverted, reserved, intelligent but naive woman - possesses all the survival and political instincts of a particularly depressed suicidal lemming, and also doesn't talk to anybody useful; but she's made it through, came into himself and started asking right questions and making right decisions, and so i'm liking her a lot. mid-book, will see how it plays out. much, much happier with the second half of the book than with the first. anne grows into herselfs, kicks some serious ass and calls some unpleasant names and in general learns to do what's needed to do and to want what she wants to want, and i loved her a whole lot by the end. also in: dreadful magic! ilario keeps rocking on! ritual sacrifices are all the rage! eugenie survives two books full of bullshit! portier continues to be my shining light of sanity and loveliness and possible saintliness. dante continues to be a dick (news at eleven). Carol Berg doesn't write bad books, but the Collegia Magica is in the running for my favorite of her series. (I'd have to re-read BREATH & BONE to decide for sure.) There was a bit in this one that made me laugh out loud, when our unassuming heroine's activities are related as viewed by an outside opinion. Not so unassuming after all, perhaps.A thing I expected came to pass within these pages, which was good (I really wanted it to happen), but considerably more I didn't also happened, which is of course even better. The writing is impossibly gorgeous, as usual. I stagger in awe at Carol's skill. Really, if you haven't read Carol Berg and you like epic fantasy, go get her first book, TRANSFORMATION, and go from there. You'll be glad you did.Now I must not start THE DAEMON PRISM, because I have a book of my own to write and I will not work on it until I've finished the next book. So I shouldn't start.*eyes it covetously*
What do You think about The Soul Mirror (2011)?
SO GOOD! But then there was that awkward moment when I realized that this is book 2...
—Star13
Great characterization and tension -- really enjoyed this book.
—wirving
