A Change of Place

3.5 stars, Metaphorosis reviews

Summary
For decades or more, Marrowdell's house toads have collected white stones to build a throne for their queen. Now, at last, she's making her presence felt. And she's angry.

Review
I didn't feel as drawn into this book as I did the preceding ones. Partly, there's a fair amount that's not clearly explained – e.g., the climactic fight with the key villain is resolved more by elision than by actual description. There's a big fight and then ... it's over, and it's not really clear why.

I think, though, that the principal problem for me was the the central relationship between Jenn and Bannan has turned – at least in my perception – from sweet to treacly. Where in the first book it was a breath of fresh air to find a relationship that was happy and optimistic, the determinedly even keel of it all – and the lovers' recurring joy in finding each other again – has started to wear on me. They never, ever fight, and they just love each other to pieces – on every page. In a similar vein, it's bothered me more and more over time that so many individuals, and particularly non-humans, fall over themselves to bow at Jenn's feet, do her bidding, and bind themselves to her service. And, while mostly Jenn, it's not just her – humans just seem to draw servitude and loyalty from non-humans (and some humans). I'd have liked to see at least one case where a human said, “You know, toad? I'm going to dedicate my life to serving you.” It's very reminiscent of Sira's relationships with Morgan and everyone else in Czerneda's Trade Pact universe, where it was equally a flaw.

There's a feel of something missing throughout this book, particularly with reference to a key character who's a bit of a black box. It was only in reading the acknowledgements at the very end that I learned that, in addition to A Dragon for William, there's another novella between this book and A Play of Shadow, named A Pearl from the Dark, that apparently explains all this. I strongly recommend reading A Dragon for William, since it deals with characters and places that are key to this one – while they appeared to be an offshoot when I read the novella, they are clearly not. That seems to be true for A Pearl from the Dark as well, and I wish I'd known of its existence – apparently available only in a collection of Czerneda's short fiction, which I somehow also missed.

All that said, I'm still enjoying the series. I do plan to track down the Pearl novella, and look forward to the forthcoming A Shift of Time. At the same time, I do rather hope that that will be the last book in the series Much as I enjoy the world, I don't know how much more of Jenn and Bannan I can take.

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review.