A superior follow-up. Book two of the Greatwinter Trilogy is a lot better than the first. This is not a novel built from two novellas as the first book was. This is a long novel from the get-go. That solves the consistency problem of the first. It also allows everything to be bigger. Bigger conflicts, better technology, more factions, more characters. That is not to say things are top-heavy. McMullen has done his work at every level to support the bigger story. Happily, there is a more even distribution of female and male characters and their interactions throughout are far more realistic (read: the thick sexuality of the first book is a bit thinner this time). McMullen does all of this without loosing any of the elements that made the previous volume so good. His world-crafting remains impeccable and his characters move in that world as if they have grown up there. He maintains a complex interplay between politics and relationships. He also continues to explore the limits of technology (if there are limits). I think by every literary measure, this is a better book. And the plot? Here McMullen gives us a look at North America in the 40th Century and lays out yet another complex dueling culture. This time duels are fought in fabric and wood airplanes called gunwings. Such duels decide matters of honor and the outcome of wars between the Airlords. Or they should. Avids from Australica are about to teach the Americans about total war.
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