Well, that was depressing. Which is good.

When Orson Scott Card says ""This is the golden age of fantasy, with a dozen masters doing their best work. Then along comes Ken Scholes, with his amazing clarity, power, and invention, and shows us all how it's done.... I wish all five volumes of this series were already published so I could read them now", you expect something astounding. Well, Schole's "Lamentation" almost fully lives up to Card's high praise. The writing is excellent to the point where even when you know what may happen to characters down the road since they are archetypes, you don't care, since they are written so well. What keeps the book from "New Classic" status? Well, maybe because it is a book about the destruction of a city in a world where humanity is already recovering from a whole mess of apocalypsing. Or maybe its hard to love a book so filled with scheming characters and haunted heroes. And the book's style, which involved jumping from character to character was something I found kind of jarring. But it is a book you can dive into very easily- and a strong ending that leaves you knowing a sequel is coming. Solid. 28.5/42 Richmans.