Quick-take: Finally, story progression.

Dan's Review

Alcatraz Smedry stays in the Free Kingdoms to rescue an ally city.

The side commentary actually says something interesting for once. I had no idea that Brave used to actually mean Cowardly, and the meaning switched at some point in the past. The same with Awful. It used to mean "Full of Awe", a synonym for awesome. Interesting stuff. Brandon Sanderson actually pokes fun at himself a bit in the commentary versus Alcatraz just self-deprecating (I am stupid, I am not a nice person, etc) or talking about how amazing he is.

There is plenty of action in there, but it is only slightly believable. Alcatraz seems to forget he is basically a superhero. When he does remember, the state of the battle dramatically shifts. Alcatraz often gets a crazy idea, and it always works. That happens all the time in movies, and it annoys me. I can respect that happening in movies due to time constraints of film, but that has no excuse in books. You know what would be more interesting than the crazy idea that works? 2 failed reasonable ideas and then a working crazy idea.

The story actually progressed some. There is shifting thoughts, second-guessing, and some character development. Finally glad to see this happen, and I am glad the final book is the last.

Score 3/5. Though completely unbelievable, it was decently entertaining, but only the last chapter actually mattered to the story.