Publishers Weekly
★ 04/13/2015
Gladstone adds to his outstanding Craft sequence with a tense legal thriller (the first volume chronologically, but the fourth one published) centered on the Skittersill Rising, an event that sets the scene for the events of 2013’s Two Serpents Rise. Twenty years after the defeat of the gods of the land called Dresediel Lex, Craftswoman and lawyer Elayne Kevarian attempts to broker a land management deal for the Dresediel Lex neighborhood of Skittersill. Interested parties include the King in Red, a conqueror of gods; landholder Tan Batac; and priest Temoc Almotil. An encampment of protesters, defiant in the face of impending gentrification, complicates matters. As the specter of civil unrest looms, Elayne navigates old enmities, conspiracy, and rampant greed. Meanwhile, Temoc is torn between his responsibilities to the protestors who look to him for leadership, and his love and devotion to his wife and young son. Gladstone’s gift for vivid storytelling, his deep empathy for his characters, his sly satire of current socioeconomic issues, and the rich, diverse world of his novels have become reliable pleasures, always enthralling and somehow consistently improving with every book. (July)
Elizabeth Bear
Max Gladstone's Craft Sequence is my ice cream.
author of The Thousand Names Django Wexler
The Craft Sequence gets better with each volume. Max Gladstone gives us wonderfully relevant bits and pieces of the modern world, turned upside-down and inside-out and garnished with skeleton kings, serpent gods, and lawyer-magicians. It's glorious.
author of Half Resurrection Blues Daniel José Older
Elegant and ferocious, Last First Snow bursts with unrelenting urgency. It is a book that wraps us in its complex embrace while demanding we look more deeply at the changing world. Politics and protest violently converge in this full throttle race through the unruly streets of Dresediel Lex, and there is no flinching from difficult truths. This is Max Gladstone at his finest.
author of The Grace of Kings and translator of The Ken Liu
Brilliant, elegant, epic, astonishing, smart, gritty…. Last First Snow is another wondrous visit to the fantastic world of the Craft Sequence.
RT Book Reviews
Entertaining and intelligent, Last First Snow will take fans of urban fantasy to exciting new territory. While not as easy for new readers to follow, the compelling tale at the center is worth the effort. Gladstone's worldbuilding is an intricate creation with all the modern trappings of today and combined with an action-packed adventure fantasy.
io9 on Three Parts Dead
One of the best debut fantasy novels I've read in years. . . . An entertaining and intelligent story that's equal parts action-adventure, fantasy, culture clash, mystery, and courtroom drama.
Elizabeth Bear on Full Fathom Five
I'm having Max Gladstone killed. He's too good already to be allowed to live. If this is early work, the rest of us are out of a job.
Library Journal
06/15/2015
The God wars are over, and now Craftsmen rule over the city-state of Dresediel Lex. Lawyer Elayne Kevarian is brought in on a contract dispute between the Red King, ruler of the city, and Tan Batac, a businessman seeking permission to redevelop the slum called Skittersill. Elayne believes she has a fair deal worked out, but a judge orders her back to the Skittersill to include the residents in the negotiations. The Skittersill might be a slum, but it houses thousands of people who want to fight for their homes. They choose as their negotiator Temoc Almotil, a priest of the old gods. VERDICT This latest series entry (after Full Fathom Five) serves as a prequel and takes place before Three Parts Dead. A bizarrely triumphant blending of lawyers with gods, magic, and faith, Gladstone's book transfixes modern socioeconomic issues such as gentrification but never neglects the magic in his worlds.[See Prepub Alert, 2/2/15.]—MM
