I liked the other two books in the series and this one wasn't horrible but I just really couldn't get over the ending. It was too wtf. I'm still not quite sure what happened. The whole Chernevog/ Yvgenie mixup was really confusing and never quite fully explained. Also, Pyetr's second daughter definitely came out of nowhere and it's never quite resolved what happens with her either. I guess she hooks up with Sasha and they have kids. And we're supposed to just assume that Sasha having a younger wife just magically fixes all his hermity problems and there's no awkwardness at all about Sasha hooking up with his best friend's daughter. :/ Does Eveshka dip into the deep, dark magic she's not supposed to? Wasn't quite sure on that point either. So much vagueness in this book. I did like the character of Ilyana though; she was a nice touch. The way she was raised and her reaction to it was very realistic and believable. She also came into her own when things picked up and earned respect for it. I guess she just ends up with the Yvgenie/Chernevog duo and everyone's okay with that? Also, its never really explained what the deal is with the leshys either. Where did Mishigi go? He just died and no one knew? He wanted Ilyana but resurrected Chernevog to go get her? Too much of this book was just random and started but never wrapped up. Seems like Cherryh should have added a couple more chapters to wrap up all these loose ends and it would have been a much better read.
I love this series enough to forgive any number of failings. Sure, most of the time I have no idea what's going on, and neither do the characters, but somehow I don't mind.Still, the end of this book left too many questions hanging in my mind. Too many lingering mysteries. Perhaps the answers would be there if I cared to look back through and decode all the thoughts, conjectures and revelations of the characters. But I won't -- at least not until much later, if I re-read it for the sheer pleasure of hanging out with Pyetr and Sasha again.Two questions I especially wish would have found some closure: (view spoiler)[-How did getting rid of Hwiuur solve all their other problems???? And what about Ilyana made the leshys want to do whatever it is they wanted to do to her? (OK, that sounded weird, but if you've read the novel I think you know what I mean.)-HOW is this weird mixture of Kavi and Yvgenie going to continue? I mean, does rusalka-Kavi continue having to suck the life out of people? Or did Babi's eating Hwiuur somehow take care of that, too? (hide spoiler)]
