Perhaps the most long awaited novel of the spring, Magnificat is the climax of May's Galactic Milleu Trilogy. It is odd to read a novel where the ending is already common knowledge but the details are enough to spark this much interest.

Unfortunately, May spends far to much energy on the Fury/Hydra plotline and not nearly enough on the Metapsyhic Rebellion. Through-out all the related novels (and there are something like six), May keeps talking about this Rebellion. But, by the time the book actually gets to the real heart and climax of the Rebellion, it takes about four pages and two confrontations to act out. Sure a world gets blown up in the process but it just doesn't seem to be enough to satisfy the expectations...

Once you get by the rather ordinary prologue, this book is quick to grab your attention. It is a grand tale of intrigue and adventure that has many sub-plots and side-stories. There are great heroes, evil villians, monsters, dragons, and everything else expected in a good fantasy but, unlike most quest fantasy these days, A Game of Thrones is also well written. Historical (to the novel) events drive much of the action and Martin foreshadows so many possibilities that it isn't easy to pick out where the plot will lead.

Perhaps the only bad point to the novel is that the sequels will probably be better and that means waiting to see where the story goes...

The back cover hints at a wonderful plot and it isn't wrong. The underlying plot of this novel is a gripping one. What more can you ask for? Secret societies, evil goddesses, murder, sacrifice, magic... its all there. And, the author has done her homework. The background material has been obviously well researched. Unfortunately, Elizabeth Hand should have spent some of her time learning how to write characters that you might actually care about. The heroine is flat and lifeless. She spend the entire novel wandering around trying to decide if she should actually do something. The rest of the cast is similarly flat. Too bad, the plot is so promising.

A fitting continuation of the Black Company trilogy, Cook uses a combination of flashbacks and a couple different narrators to fill in what happened to the rest of the Company while Croaker and Lady were separated from them in the last book. It brings the story up to just before the Black Company goes after the Shadowmasters. My guess is that volume two of this trilogy will deal with the final battles with the Shadowmasters. Then, volume three will deal with the final journey to Kovatar.

The book is very good but Cook has his work cut out for him. He needs to deal with all the loose ends he has scattered across the story since the saga first started.