I really enjoyed most of the previous book, but this one is a fricking mess. The subway/iron tangle book was hard to follow, but at least you could just ignore the line numbers and colors and generally get the gist of the story. This one is just a disaster of confusion. So many characters, most kf them without enough depth that they make an impression and you can remember them and keep track of why they are important. Running commentary on a giant war sequence without enough context and build up where you can follow it. “They’re approaching the gate! What gate?? I don’t know some gate. Oh no, there is a trap that will ruin the plan!! What plan? What was the plan? Who are they fighting, why are there suddenly gods? Why is it so important that this god is here? It seems like we are supposed to know…”
Oddly enough, this feels a lot like The Land, where after a half dozen great installments the author just seemed to throw something together without a lot of thought.