/lit/ - Literature

>>20553644
Treachery's Tools, Imager Portfolio #10 - L.E. Modesitt Jr. (2016)

Thirteen years had passed by and problems that were thought to have been resolved by drastic actions turned out not have to have been. If anything, everything had become worse. Having solely treated a few obvious surface-level symptoms of societal upheaval led to greater fundamental problems later on.

Tax policy was still important, but it wasn't the central issue this time. Instead, the land-rich cash-poor aristocracy wanted to regain the authority they had over four hundred years ago to wipe out the upstart merchant class and anyone else who wouldn't obey them. The merchants were ascendant, what with their shares, futures, exchanges, banks, and general profit-seeking above all else.

Alastar remained relatively static, unless you count being married and having a daughter as character development. His reformation of the collegium was well underway and many practices seen in the first few books were shown to
have started at this critical time.

Various parts of the story were somewhat a rehash of earlier books and there was a quote about history not quite repeating itself. The latter half was battlefield conflict, which was alright but not that particularly interesting or enjoyable.

Rating: 3.5/5