This is, unfortunately, the weakest entry in the series so far.
That said, the audiobook performance remains excellent. The narrator continues to deliver a consistently engaging and polished experience, elevating the material even when the story itself falters.
A major issue here is the setting. This installment takes place on Level 9—a location that has been heavily built up across the earlier books. The problem is that the author seems to have written himself into a corner. Expectations were set so high, and the scale so vast, that delivering a satisfying payoff was always going to be difficult. In this case, it feels like it simply wasn’t achieved.
One of the biggest declines in quality comes from how abilities and mechanics are handled. Earlier books did a strong job of setting up skills, equipment, and magic systems in advance, allowing for satisfying payoffs later. Here, there are so many abilities in play that they’re often either poorly explained or only introduced at the moment they’re needed. This leads to a kind of “wand-waving” problem-solving—conflicts are resolved by suddenly revealing something the reader didn’t even know existed. It feels less like clever storytelling and more like convenience, which undercuts tension and stakes.
The scale of the conflict doesn’t help. This level revolves around a war, and large-scale battles are notoriously difficult to portray effectively in writing. The book struggles here as well. Instead of grounding the reader in a focused, personal perspective, the action often feels scattered and lacking impact. The result is something that should feel epic, but instead comes across as distant and hard to follow.
Despite all of this, I still enjoy the series overall. This installment is worth getting through if only to continue on to the next book. However, it does raise some concerns. The further the story expands in scope and complexity, the harder it may become for the author to deliver on the promise established in the earlier books.