Ash and Quill

Enjoyed this too, still compelling reading. I like that this book took a darker and more adult turn. Bad and heavy shit comes down on Jess and it made this book feel much more consequential than the second book. A little romance too. The continuing flirtation between Jess and Morgan got a little tedious but at least it was finally consumated. There's also a great scene between Wolfe and Santi which was much appreciated, up to then I'd felt like the author wasn't quite committed to writing a gay relationship.

There's still something sort of breathless and unsatisfying about these books though. I kept thinking about the geopolitics in this book. It's basically a parable of the Roman Church vs. the European feudal governments, there should be a lot going on. And occasionally there's some glimpse of that, more in this book, but the story feels sort of claustrophobic focussing just on Jess and his pals.

Still, fun fiction. I suppose I'm in for the full series.