Under the Smokestrewn Sky, A. Deborah Baker (Seanan McGuire)
Received to review via Netgalley
Under the Smokestrewn Sky continues and completes the story of Zib and Avery’s first travels through the Up-And-Under. I was pretty sceptical in beginning this journey, since it spun off Middlegame — a great book, don’t get me wrong, but not one I really wanted to see a sequel or spin-off for, somehow.
Still, the series is not very related to Middlegame‘s story, and is self-contained and quite different in tone. This final volume wraps things up, bringing Zib and Avery to their final destination. The language remains playful and reminiscent of Cat Valente’s voice in the Fairyland books, and mostly avoids being too much.
As for the story, well, there are certain things that I found really predictable and others that I hadn’t been expecting. The narration made light of the first part, pointing out that Niamh also saw it coming, so just played into the whole meta-textual bit there — but still, I was a little disappointed that it had been obvious to me for so long.
It’s a mostly satisfying end, though I have lot of questions about where the characters other than Zib and Avery go from there. I suppose there may be more, since the last pages mention that Zib and Avery do return to the Up-and-Under… and I shall read it eagerly if so.
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