I just finished it. I hope I'm not offending anyone when I say it was a big step up from INFERNAL. At times it seemed as though Jack was a sort of peripheral character, with the Yeniceri's problems bearing as much importance as his. I'm glad the end didn't let Jack get off entirely untarnished.
This was an very interesting entry, and very different in comparison to early books in the series; you might say it's a
harbinger of things to come (I'm sorry). In fact, I sort of see the older Jack novels (I'd say Jack novels in the "classic style" but that might imply that FPW is losing his magic or something, which isn't what I'm trying to say) ending with THE HAUNTED AIR, and GATEWAYS marking the beginning of a more streamlined approach to the stories, full of cosmic lore and more significant advances toward NIGHTWORLD. Fix-its gave way to straight on Otherness-wrangling and bizarro adventures, and so on. An argument could be made that CRISSCROSS proves me wrong, but even that dealt more with a big world domination plot than anything else. Not that I mind. Am I making sense here?
Anyway. I enjoyed the ambiguities left after it ended. Here are some thoughts/ponderings in glorious "bullet-point" format:
- Did the maniac at the start of HOSTS have any connection to the Yeniseri? It's a longshot, but with it never being explained and all, I dunno.
- Who was in the Hummer at the end? If it was Davis, I can't see Diana's life getting any better.
- What was Rasalom referring to that happened 4 years ago? I assume he killed someone (go figure), but I'm in the dark as to the Adversary cycle.
- Olive from CONSPIRACIES had her eyes cut out. Was that because she was an Oculus, or connected to one?
- Are the ladies with dogs all one person who changes shape?