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I've really enjoyed the Lord Meren series.. up until the last 2 books, that is. The writing, which had previously been assured and engaging seemed to go rapidly downhill like a lumber truck with a brake problem. I found myself cringing, wondering whether the series was going to conclude successfully or end up in flames at the bottom of a ravine. (It did the latter, unfortunately.)
It's as though the author suddenly got sick of Meren & company and simply went into a rush job ending in the last 2 books. It's a shame because these characters have been nicely developed over the course of the series.* We know how smart they are, or how smart they should be. However, the major mystery arc of the series gets wrapped up in such an unsightly and ramshackle way, that it absolutely requires the characters we know and care about to drop a bunch of IQ points all at once. Especially poor Meren, who we've followed faithfully all this time. He ends up looking like a chump and the author treats the readers like chumps too. We all deserved a bit better than that.
* Except for some of the same annoying stock female characters which seem to be on a rotational basis.
