A series that began with offbeat potential ends with tedium. Merle and Junipa, emerging from Hell, discover Egypt covered in snow. The unprecedented cold comes from the presence of Winter, a figure searching for his paramour Summer. Summer’s imprisoned in the Iron Eye, a stronghold of mirrors made by sphinxes as part of the Stone Light’s plan to take over the world. The Stone Light also wants to take over other worlds—worlds that Meyer never shows, except the “mirror world” that connects them all. Ancient legend connects the sphinxes, the Stone Light, the Egyptian Empire (which has ravaged Venice and the world), the Flowing Queen and Vermithrax, the flying stone lion. Meyer’s prose is verbosely distancing; for example, in an action scene, “The mummies wore armor of leather and steel, but even that could not conceal that these undead soldiers were specimens with uncommonly robust proportions.” Excessive explanation and exposition renders this conclusion dull and slow. (Fantasy. 11-14)
