I'll just make three spoiler-free comments:
- While the author is no bloodthirsty GRRM, he's not afraid to whack a viewpoint character to whom he's let you get good and attached.
- While there are a couple of straight-up good guys and one or two boo-hiss villainous characters, most everyone on every side is pretty three-dimensional. Sometimes you find yourself cheering for characters you'd started out viewing as mustache-twirling bad guys...and vice-versa.
- I did not see that ending coming. Heck, I didn't even really see the middle coming. This is no formulaic set-piece a la Stephen King's The Stand.
Also, social media groupthink scares me worse now than ever before.
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