I was able to over look the staff error in book 4. I explained it in my review of book 4 so wont elaborate here. I am really really finding it very difficult to accept the magically increasing number of trolls chasing Merk. As he was traveling down the Devil's finger peninsula it started as a few hundred of Vesuvius's best warriors, increasing to several thousand by the time they reached the end. As Merk and the King's daughter took 1 of the 12-15 SMALL boats available, ALL several thousand trolls loaded onto the small boats.. By the time they reach the isle of Knossos the number of boats and trolls has grown into an never ending army of trolls.. Then there is the dragons.. that dont let anybe escape the citys but the heros are instantly free clear and safe from the dragons once they leave the capital city.. The horrible logistics are really making me not want to get the last book.. no matter how good the overall story line is.

I love how in the book and all the books in the series, it refers to death as a character. And I think one of the best parts of this book is how Escalon is taken over by two armies, and even though that happened the people of Escalon still stay strong, the people/characters in this book have so much personality. It’s like the book is alive. In a good way.

In the last book the Troll’s Leader was at the main city battle and captured the person who put the main character on her “horse” and sent her to her mother but in this one he is not at the battle but at a completely different battle. The MC tries to excuse her many failures try to save her father as a test when her father didn’t need her and her being there didn’t serve any purpose. Still better than the last book so hopefully the next will go back to being good like the first few.

This is a very entertaining story of valor and never giving up, even facing overwhelming odds. Filled along to the conclusion!

First few books were good but now it seems like Rice ran out of energy to make it worth reading. Very inconsistent (Kyle is captured in the last book then in this book is in the battlefield never captured). These are simple errors that proofreading takes care of. Also, every single chapter ends in the character thinking “it’s a sure death.” Yeah, I won’t believe that if it happens every few paragraphs with them always never dying. Very repetitive as if Rice is rushing to get it done and undertook more than he expected.

Many times I’ve had problems keeping my line of thought parallel to the books and I’m finally realizing why. The inconsistency is astonishing. In the ending of the last book, Vesuvius captures Kyle, yet in the beginning of this book Kyle is on the battlefield and survives by using a shield and bodies of others? The consistency is horrible.

The problem with the world building here is that there is no support structure behind the invaders of the land. On one side we have the trolls, which alt least can munch on the victims. Question is what did the live on before they came south. The southern army is normal people, but what are they living on, now that the land and cities have been decimated? For a army of one million, a support staff 10:1 is needed, and its just not there. Besides that, both generals have a nasty habit of pushing their troops off cliffs and generally using them as shark bait. They are not used well, and their lives are wasted. Who would support that? Our hero’s continue to have cliff hangers every chapter. It’s getting old..

Story changes in a few places. Kyle captured in one book but wakes up on battlefield in the next. The description of every single characters feelings is the same. All of them pushing beyond their past for the honor of death. All of them embrace death in at least two or three chapters. The story has great potential but like others have stated it badly needs editing. There doesn't need to be a crazy adventure and struggle NOT to die at the end of every chapter. After just now noticing Kyle not capture due to mistake in writing I almost lost all interest in finishing.

Enjoying the story itself, but the syntax, word choice, and timeline errors really detract from the readability. These issues have grown steadily worse with each book. Kyle was captured but then he wasn't, one of the primary antagonists is repeatedly in multiple locations at the same time, like the capital city Andros, and the tower of kos on the devils finger. I'm going to keep reading, I'm invested in the story itself, but the timeline errors alone are annoying, I can be forgiving on the translation errors, but please keep your story straight.

In the first book of the series it said trolls are scared of water that is how the flames keep them on their own land in marda. Now in this book it has them jumping on a ship chasing merk after they extinguished the flames. If they are willing to sail now and brave the seas why didnt they just sail around the flames in the first place?