In the second book in the Darkglass Mountain series, Sara Douglass does not disappoint. It was as exciting and as consuming as all of her other books. It was as I had expected, though – I have had this book sitting on my bookshelf for months, and had purposely left off reading it until I had a whole weekend free where I knew I wouldn’t be interrupted. The Twisted Citadel takes up right after where The Serpent Bride finishes. I don’t even know where to begin to start talking about this book – it’s like a soap opera and there is just so much going on that it’s hard to talk about the plot while trying to keep this post making sense. So, I think I will avoid the plot. Needless to say, you need to read The Serpent Bride before this (and it would probably help to read The Axis Trilogy, The Wayfarer Redemption, Threshold and Beyond the Hanging Wall as well).

So, I shall talk about those parts which won’t be as confusing or spoilerific – mainly relating to characters and a rant that I have. Which I realize probably won’t be interesting to anyone who hasn’t read these book yet.

Let us start with villains. So many bad guys, and not always real bad guys, but guys that you know are working for the big bad guy… The main villain in the previous book (Kanubai) should’ve realized that Darkglass Mountain would turn on him as it did on the Magi who first constructed that glass pyramid (in Threshold). The pyramid consumes Kanubai at the beginning of this book and from his death comes the One – infinite, perfection incarnate. The One is definitely a much more exciting villain than Kanubai, and I am looking forward to seeing what he’ll do in the next book. (I can’t help feeling that there will be something in the next book about his teeth, seeing as Douglass mentioned them so many times.) The smaller villains weren’t nearly as exciting – the most notable being Ravenna, the marsh witch who Maxel had originally turned Ishbel away for. Then there are those who I do not know where they will stand at the end – there is every reason to believe they will betray Maxel, but I’m not entirely convinced. Douglass has a formula, after all, that she follows through most of her books, and there is usually help from unexpected quarters when help is needed most.

Ishbel was awesome in this book. She has grown so much as a character since the beginning of the previous book, and she has become someone very powerful who has already aided Maxel’s cause greatly, even though for a while he completely alienated her from him. Maxel and Ishbel’s relationship continues to grow very strong, though, and they will certainly be a pair that I would not want to go up against, if I were the One. Maxel himself is in the process of the typical heroes quest, complete with descent into the underworld (or in this case, the Twisted Tower), and rebirth. Somewhat predictable, but necessary to make him the hero that will defeat the One and save the world from devastation.

And then there’s Axis. I don’t like Axis. I said I liked him when I read The Serpent Bride, but I’ve definitely reverted to my previous animosity towards him. For a good half of the time I was reading about him, I was livid. I still resent him for his faithlessness to Faraday, and that was how many books ago? And I mean, yes, she was so much better with DragonStar, but it’s the principle of the matter! And yes, I realize that they’re all fictional but gosh darn it, he makes me so angry. And this anger is brought to the surface whenever he is mooning over a woman – in fact, I think I would like him quite a bit if he wasn’t always falling in love with women. When he is distracted by a woman, there are pages and pages and pages of how he agonizes over them and how he’s betraying whatever lover he had right before this new one and blah blah blah. And then he has the gall to question Maxel’s feelings for Ishbel! It makes me annoyed. And brings back to mind what he did with Faraday. And grr! Angry! (And Douglass does not do this with all her characters, just mainly Axis.) Okay, rant done.

I’m glad I gave myself one whole weekend to read this book – had I started it mid-week or on a weekend where I didn’t have so much free time, I would’ve lost many-an-hour of sleep due to it. Douglass’ writing style drew me in right from the beginning, again, and kept me wanting to see what would happen next. Am really wanting to go back and reread some of her other books now, but there are just so many unread books that are calling to me next. I’m definitely looking forward to getting my hands on the next book in the series, but maybe I’ll have to make my way through The Wayfarer Redemption again within the next year.