A Man Rides Through: Book II Mordant's Need

*some spoilers possible, since this is a second novel after all*

My first thought when I picked this up after Mirror of Her Dreams, and a continuing one as I slogged through this book was "Dear god, this is a long book."

I kept thinking that it had just been a long time since I'd read a series of novels (it has) or that I'm just not used to long books anymore (possible), but man. I became a slow, and rather reluctant, reader with this one.

I don't see any reason to post a description, since hopefully if you choose to read this series, you'll read the first before this book.

I found myself doing a lot of skimming with A Man Rides Through. My copy is some 600 pages long (it's a hardcover) and I was inching through it for a few weeks.

There were some moments where I was reminded why I was reading. I like the characters all right and I wanted to see what happened. The "battle royale" at the end was entertaining. I can't say it had me on pins and needles, but I read a bit faster and more thoroughly then. It seemed to take forever to get to that point though. There were some surprises, but the ending was fairly predictable and tied up neatly (not necessarily a bad thing at all). I also really liked the heroine's final confrontation, which I will spill no more beans about here.

Bottom Line

Overall Rating: 3.0 / 5 

Buy or Try? Try
More? This is book 2 of 2

Content

Plot: 2.5 / 5
Setting: 3.5 / 5
Characters: 3 / 5 (lots of redemption of characters in this book)

Style
Pace: Slow (sluggish in some places)
Descriptiveness: Fair 
Fantasy factor: Low

Amazon.com link