Unfortunately, the story is often told by a third party. In a few chapters, a petty soldier or some other inconsequential character is suddenly introduced and through his unknown eyes readers get a glimpse of a part of the siege or hear secret plans for an ambush or some such episode. These dry revelations made this final book much less exciting and urgent. Adding to the dryness is the recitation of mind-numbing details regarding the siege strategies, the defense strategies, food rationing, trench digging. This draining recitation weighed the story down. Additionally, there were only two settings: the battle camp of the invaders and the city. Not much action involved even though it’s the middle of a war.
Also missing was the story’s best character, Vaatzes himself. He doesn’t appear until a quarter of the way through the book. While the other characters are somewhat interesting they do not possess the intrigue that envelops Vaatzes. They aren’t the mystery we want to solve. He’s the heart and soul of this trilogy and it didn’t feel like he was there enough in this third tome.
All the characters are morally ambivalent so it’s no surprise that the story ends with a weak choice. It’s not wholly unexpected, but it is aggravating. Still, that helps this trilogy to be a story not easily forgotten. It makes you ponder relationships and motivations. That’s good storytelling. While The Escapement is the weakest of these three books it’s still worth reading.
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