I don't know what happened. I really liked the first two books in this series, and Jennifer Roberson is one of my favorite authors. But I found this third volume boring. And the narrator for this audiobook was not very good. So I gave up on this. ( )

The Wild Road is book three in the Karavans series and continues the story where it left off in book two. Unfortunately, not a whole lot of progress is made in this book; by the end of book three, the characters are in very similar situations as they were in book two, and most of the problems that I thought were going to be resolved in this book weren’t. It’s made worse by the fact that there’s apparently supposed to be a book four, but it hasn’t been published, and since this book was published in 2012, who knows when/if there will ever be a sequel. I quite liked Karavans and Deepwood (books 1 & 2), but after reading this, I’m retracting my recommendation to start the series and suggesting not starting it, because it’s ends with a lot of things completely unresolved and may likely never be finished.

If book four ever comes out, this would be an okay addition to the series. Not much happens, but there’s a lot of character development going on; we see more of Rhuan’s father and his motivations, and we also learn more about the Deepwood, the demons that live there, and the gods who supposedly control it all. Also, more progress is made on the idea of waging war on the violent people who have overtaken and destroyed the human settlements, causing them to risk traveling near the deepwood to a safer place. Like the second book, this book is grim and dark, but the characters retain their optimism and work to fight for better lives.

Also posted on Purple People Readers. ( )

This series has been a departure from the author's other work since the first volume, and leads further down a dark path with each book. Good drama will do that, digging an ever deeper hole for characters until the time for some sort of resolution to their situation comes. The characters of The Wild Road endure their troubles and try to move forward, with few signs of hope, while facing literally monsterous odds. There is an unrelieved grimness to this part of the story that can be hard to bear, and the story does not lend itself to comic relief through snappy reparte between characters. Such would sound false in a dark fantasy of this sort. I did not read this book quickly, or straight through. Nightmares are always harder to bear than dreams, but I trust this author and so, something like her characters, I pressed on to the end. It was a satisfying read, with strong writing and a tale well-told, however dark and grim it might be. I find myself quite interested in seeing how this will all be resolved in the fourth and presumably last book. (And here's hoping it won't take quite so long to arrive!) ( )

This series has been a departure from the author's other work since the first volume, and leads further down a dark path with each book. Good drama will do that, digging an ever deeper hole for characters until the time for some sort of resolution to their situation comes. The characters of The Wild Road endure their troubles and try to move forward, with few signs of hope, while facing literally monsterous odds. There is an unrelieved grimness to this part of the story that can be hard to bear, and the story does not lend itself to comic relief through snappy reparte between characters. Such would sound false in a dark fantasy of this sort. I did not read this book quickly, or straight through. Nightmares are always harder to bear than dreams, but I trust this author and so, something like her characters, I pressed on to the end. It was a satisfying read, with strong writing and a tale well-told, however dark and grim it might be. I find myself quite interested in seeing how this will all be resolved in the fourth and presumably last book. (And here's hoping it won't take quite so long to arrive!) ( )

I'm enjoying this fantasy series immensely. The characters keep surprising me and the world-building is rich and varied. I'm a sucker for stories where inner and outer journeys parallel each other, and this is a great example. My own caution is that the books do have to be read in order. It's one long story, not a series of related tales. ( )