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The Craft Wars #2
Wicked Problems
Gods and lawyers battle for the soul of the world in the action-packed second volume of Max Gladstone's Craft Wars, an epic fantasy like no other.
A deadly force has been unleashed into the world. With apocalypse on the horizon, a girl and a god have joined in order to turn back the coming end. Young, brash, and desperate, they are willing to destroy anything and everything that stands between them and their goals. The structures of the Craft are theirs to overturn, with billions of lives in the balance. And it is all Tara Abernathy’s fault.
The battle for the world of the Craft is heating up. A dead god will rise. A mountain will fall. Ancient fire will be stolen. And while Tara races to stop Dawn’s plans, the end draws ever closer, skittering across the stars to swallow the world. The Craft Wars enter their second stage in Wicked Problems.
A deadly force has been unleashed into the world. With apocalypse on the horizon, a girl and a god have joined in order to turn back the coming end. Young, brash, and desperate, they are willing to destroy anything and everything that stands between them and their goals. The structures of the Craft are theirs to overturn, with billions of lives in the balance. And it is all Tara Abernathy’s fault.
The battle for the world of the Craft is heating up. A dead god will rise. A mountain will fall. Ancient fire will be stolen. And while Tara races to stop Dawn’s plans, the end draws ever closer, skittering across the stars to swallow the world. The Craft Wars enter their second stage in Wicked Problems.
464 pages, Paperback
First published April 9, 2024
74 people are currently reading
4601 people want to read
About the author
Max Gladstone
121 books2,540 followersMax Gladstone is the author of the Craft Sequence: THREE PARTS DEAD, TWO SERPENTS RISE, FULL FATHOM FIVE, and most recently, LAST FIRST SNOW. He's been twice nominated for the John W Campbell Best New Writer award, and nominated for the XYZZY and Lambda Awards.
Max has taught in southern Anhui, wrecked a bicycle in Angkor Wat, and been thrown from a horse in Mongolia. Max graduated from Yale University, where he studied Chinese.
Max has taught in southern Anhui, wrecked a bicycle in Angkor Wat, and been thrown from a horse in Mongolia. Max graduated from Yale University, where he studied Chinese.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 92 reviews
February 10, 2024
Everything I loved in Dead Country, book one of the new Craft trilogy, has been lost. Actually, to be specific, it has been jumped up with an injection of epinephrine straight into the heart. Instead of one main character, we have five or six; instead of heading home for a funeral, we have chasing a wayward student across the continents, instead of --well, at the risk of getting spoilery, I'll just say, instead of small scale-village conflicts, we have city and continent-wide ones. It was the literary version of Speed turned into Crank.
The Prologue begins with Dawn and Sybil, the snake manifestation last seen in Dead Country. This is good; when Dawn spells out her mission for us, it starts us on solid footing in story continuity and recalling recent events. Then we start the jumping, beginning with Caleb Altemoc, seen in Two Serpents Rise (2013), my least favorite book in the series, and Last First Snow (2015). We will jump heads to Abelard (Three Parts Dead, 2012, and Four Roads Cross, 2016), Kai (Full Fathom Five, 2014) and Temoc (LFS). Confused? Me too! While you don't have to have read all these books, but it will likely probably help because this is, quite frankly, a Team Superhero novel. Heavy on action, full of grandiose but strangely non-specific agendas ("stop them"), slim on characterization (except instant loyalty and inklings of affection) and generally, just a very different direction than I was expecting after Dead Country.
Dawn's narrative is the interlinking voice in this story. I appreciated the complicated picture we get of her and Sybil, and how that contrasts with that of the other characters. I liked her voice. The one I had to most trouble with were Caleb and Kai, who are essentially working adults now, and whose language and thoughts feel like that of modern professionals: "Descending in stocking feet with her heels in her handbag was about as much fun as Kai would have guessed. She got splashed by the maelstrom and clipped by a rock shard once. But she did not die, which was nice." It led to some moments of mental incongruity.
Speaking of incongruity, I felt like there were more moments of them in this book, although its hard to be sure when I'm speaking from memory. Kai, for instance, talks about going blind dates through a service using demonic algorithms, a clear (and unneeded) commentary on dating apps, and her date talking about the new book "of a forty-book series of thrillers about some itinerant special-forces type who bought fresh pairs of underwear rather than doing laundry." Yes, yes; we get the Reacher reference. Why is it there? Have you sacrificed your story's pathos for a moment of modern social humor and/or commentary? I think so.
What saved it for me is that Gladstone tries very hard to create a 'both sides could be right,' a great philosophical challenge--albeit one that none of the characters have the time for, much like a superhero movie. We will do this thing because I have said I will do it, for the moral stance of it all. It's this depth to the characters that I appreciate.
"No trace remained but Dawn's memory and the pirate's expression. Dawn though, This woman has not been a pirate all her life. She was a child once. She had parents. She became this thing, of her own will or not. She was not quips and daring and cutlasses down to the atoms.
There was no secret, Tara had said in the graveyard. Just hurt people on the same side."
One of the strongest parts of Gladstone's writing is the emotional and situational complexity:
"'You hoped she was dead.
He looked out at the horizon. "I hoped she was out of it. Away from gods and Craftsmen and the Wars you all talk about like they're over. She was not a good person or a nice person and she hurt a lot of people including me. Including herself. I didn't want her to hurt anyone else."
There are some very creative scenes, and it is certainly action-filled, so it pulls one along with momentum. Despite the too-obvious intrusions of the modern American world into the story, I will keep returning for the creative world-building, the questions of ideology, and the exceptional prose.
Many thanks to NetGalley for an arc of this story. Of course, opinions are my own. Quotes are subject to change in the final publication, of course, but give an idea of what to expect.
The Prologue begins with Dawn and Sybil, the snake manifestation last seen in Dead Country. This is good; when Dawn spells out her mission for us, it starts us on solid footing in story continuity and recalling recent events. Then we start the jumping, beginning with Caleb Altemoc, seen in Two Serpents Rise (2013), my least favorite book in the series, and Last First Snow (2015). We will jump heads to Abelard (Three Parts Dead, 2012, and Four Roads Cross, 2016), Kai (Full Fathom Five, 2014) and Temoc (LFS). Confused? Me too! While you don't have to have read all these books, but it will likely probably help because this is, quite frankly, a Team Superhero novel. Heavy on action, full of grandiose but strangely non-specific agendas ("stop them"), slim on characterization (except instant loyalty and inklings of affection) and generally, just a very different direction than I was expecting after Dead Country.
Dawn's narrative is the interlinking voice in this story. I appreciated the complicated picture we get of her and Sybil, and how that contrasts with that of the other characters. I liked her voice. The one I had to most trouble with were Caleb and Kai, who are essentially working adults now, and whose language and thoughts feel like that of modern professionals: "Descending in stocking feet with her heels in her handbag was about as much fun as Kai would have guessed. She got splashed by the maelstrom and clipped by a rock shard once. But she did not die, which was nice." It led to some moments of mental incongruity.
Speaking of incongruity, I felt like there were more moments of them in this book, although its hard to be sure when I'm speaking from memory. Kai, for instance, talks about going blind dates through a service using demonic algorithms, a clear (and unneeded) commentary on dating apps, and her date talking about the new book "of a forty-book series of thrillers about some itinerant special-forces type who bought fresh pairs of underwear rather than doing laundry." Yes, yes; we get the Reacher reference. Why is it there? Have you sacrificed your story's pathos for a moment of modern social humor and/or commentary? I think so.
What saved it for me is that Gladstone tries very hard to create a 'both sides could be right,' a great philosophical challenge--albeit one that none of the characters have the time for, much like a superhero movie. We will do this thing because I have said I will do it, for the moral stance of it all. It's this depth to the characters that I appreciate.
"No trace remained but Dawn's memory and the pirate's expression. Dawn though, This woman has not been a pirate all her life. She was a child once. She had parents. She became this thing, of her own will or not. She was not quips and daring and cutlasses down to the atoms.
There was no secret, Tara had said in the graveyard. Just hurt people on the same side."
One of the strongest parts of Gladstone's writing is the emotional and situational complexity:
"'You hoped she was dead.
He looked out at the horizon. "I hoped she was out of it. Away from gods and Craftsmen and the Wars you all talk about like they're over. She was not a good person or a nice person and she hurt a lot of people including me. Including herself. I didn't want her to hurt anyone else."
There are some very creative scenes, and it is certainly action-filled, so it pulls one along with momentum. Despite the too-obvious intrusions of the modern American world into the story, I will keep returning for the creative world-building, the questions of ideology, and the exceptional prose.
Many thanks to NetGalley for an arc of this story. Of course, opinions are my own. Quotes are subject to change in the final publication, of course, but give an idea of what to expect.
January 16, 2026
Phenomenal!
The craft is a way of seeing, a way of knowing.
The craft is a way of seeing, a way of knowing.
November 13, 2025
If Dead Country was a deeply emotional character study, then WICKED PROBLEMS is an ensemble action-adventure with the fate of the world at stake. Some folks may not be into the vibe switch, but for longtime readers of Gladstone's Craft Sequence books, it's immensely satisfying to see - finally - the gang all together in this second book of the Craft Wars series.
In this entry, young Dawn + the god-figure she's now bonded to, Sybil, are on a journey to acquire enough power to fight and defeat the skazzerai, the spiders from beyond the stars that want to eat the world. Meanwhile, Dawn's teacher and mentor, Tara, is after her to try and stop her from doing the same, since Dawn will unmake the world to accomplish her goal.
On the side of Dawn: rebels from Dresediel Lex, Mal and Temoc, and a bunch of mercenaries. On the side of Tara: her bff and minder, Abelard, a Saint Technician of the fire god Kos, Caleb, "professional risk manager" and reluctant Knight of Gods, and Kai, the priestess of Kavekana. Oh and a couple of ancient and powerful Craftworkers.
My favorite thing about this book and its potentially world-ending conflict is that Gladstone does a great job of making each side sympathetic and understandable. In part this is because, at this point, we know and love all the characters so well. But it's also because it's truly two different approaches to problem-solving, each with their merits.
Gladstone is a master at creating systems and showing their inherent weaknesses and conflicts. In this book he really gets to throw everything he's been building over the course of the series - primarily the logic-argument and contracts-based approach of Craft and the ineffable power of faith and belief in Gods - directly against each other and make some truly fun-to-read sparks.
The format of the book is to switch perspectives between many of these characters every chapter or so, so we don't get to go deep with any one. It's basically run-fight-run-BIG fight in this story. However, there are new pairings to enjoy (Tara & Kai! Caleb & Abelard! Temoc & Mal!) and an actual doomsday vampire cult fighting intelligent squids so... Many delightful digressions along the way in this chase toward the end.
I went to an author talk with Max Gladstone and was reminded that Craft Wars was meant to be a trilogy, but it's going to end up being at least four books - and books 2/3 are actually the "middle book" of the trilogy split in two.
Gladstone also promised that after the frenetic energy of WICKED PROBLEMS, Dead Hand Rule is a slower-paced book that allows for more character interaction. I am super looking forward to it, and while I can't jump in right away, hopefully it won't take me that long to get to this next entry in the series!
In this entry, young Dawn + the god-figure she's now bonded to, Sybil, are on a journey to acquire enough power to fight and defeat the skazzerai, the spiders from beyond the stars that want to eat the world. Meanwhile, Dawn's teacher and mentor, Tara, is after her to try and stop her from doing the same, since Dawn will unmake the world to accomplish her goal.
On the side of Dawn: rebels from Dresediel Lex, Mal and Temoc, and a bunch of mercenaries. On the side of Tara: her bff and minder, Abelard, a Saint Technician of the fire god Kos, Caleb, "professional risk manager" and reluctant Knight of Gods, and Kai, the priestess of Kavekana. Oh and a couple of ancient and powerful Craftworkers.
My favorite thing about this book and its potentially world-ending conflict is that Gladstone does a great job of making each side sympathetic and understandable. In part this is because, at this point, we know and love all the characters so well. But it's also because it's truly two different approaches to problem-solving, each with their merits.
Gladstone is a master at creating systems and showing their inherent weaknesses and conflicts. In this book he really gets to throw everything he's been building over the course of the series - primarily the logic-argument and contracts-based approach of Craft and the ineffable power of faith and belief in Gods - directly against each other and make some truly fun-to-read sparks.
The format of the book is to switch perspectives between many of these characters every chapter or so, so we don't get to go deep with any one. It's basically run-fight-run-BIG fight in this story. However, there are new pairings to enjoy (Tara & Kai! Caleb & Abelard! Temoc & Mal!) and an actual doomsday vampire cult fighting intelligent squids so... Many delightful digressions along the way in this chase toward the end.
I went to an author talk with Max Gladstone and was reminded that Craft Wars was meant to be a trilogy, but it's going to end up being at least four books - and books 2/3 are actually the "middle book" of the trilogy split in two.
Gladstone also promised that after the frenetic energy of WICKED PROBLEMS, Dead Hand Rule is a slower-paced book that allows for more character interaction. I am super looking forward to it, and while I can't jump in right away, hopefully it won't take me that long to get to this next entry in the series!
January 2, 2024
In my review of Dead Country, I commented that having Tara Abernathy as the protagonist made sense, because if there was a main protagonist of the Craft Sequence, it was Tara. This book made me realize there’s a much better way to handle the concluding trilogy of the Craft universe: have the whole gang come together. I would say this book has four protagonists: Tara, again, but also Caleb Altemoc from Two Serpents Rise and Last First Snow, Kai Pohala from Full Fathom Five and The Ruin of Angels, and (very interestingly) Dawn from Dead Country. We also get appearances by Abelard and Shale (much more substantial than their cameos in Dead Country), and Elayne Kavarian, and Teo Batan, and the King in Red, and more I will not be mentioning because of spoilers. As the great sage Kronk said, it’s all coming together.
The feeling of everything coming together was one of my favorite parts of this book (and all the “So … you two know each other then?” moments as the cast crossed paths were just plain fun). The various events in Alt Coulomb and Dresediel Lex and Kavekana all have consequences that are playing out here, and (I suspect) the events of those books shed light on the mysteries of this book as well. I had intended to re-read the Craft Sequence before Dead Country, and had really really intended to re-read it after finishing Dead Country, but I never made the time and am kicking myself for it. I have a general sense of what happened in those books, enough to not be lost in this one, but I know I missed a great deal.
This book follows up on the two threats revealed in Dead Country, both the eldritch horrors approaching from the stars and as paradoxical as that might seem in the universe of the Craft Sequence. The book is essentially divided into two competing camps: Team Tara and Team Dawn. Each camp is worried about the other, but each is also worried about the whole approaching eldritch horror thing as well. And there are other players on the board, with goals we don’t really understand.
Unsurprisingly, given how Dead Country ended, Tara’s overdeveloped sense of responsibility plays a big part in events. Normally I don’t have much patience for the trope where the protagonist is all, “I must do everything myself and protect everyone” and the protagonist’s friends are all, “Knock it off, you unseasoned chicken wing, we’re helping.” But here it works and works well.
It’s also worth mentioning that Tara has been more or less free of any romantic entanglements in the Craft Sequence, which I’ve generally appreciated. That’s no longer the case, and it’s adorable and I love it.
My blog
The feeling of everything coming together was one of my favorite parts of this book (and all the “So … you two know each other then?” moments as the cast crossed paths were just plain fun). The various events in Alt Coulomb and Dresediel Lex and Kavekana all have consequences that are playing out here, and (I suspect) the events of those books shed light on the mysteries of this book as well. I had intended to re-read the Craft Sequence before Dead Country, and had really really intended to re-read it after finishing Dead Country, but I never made the time and am kicking myself for it. I have a general sense of what happened in those books, enough to not be lost in this one, but I know I missed a great deal.
This book follows up on the two threats revealed in Dead Country, both the eldritch horrors approaching from the stars and as paradoxical as that might seem in the universe of the Craft Sequence. The book is essentially divided into two competing camps: Team Tara and Team Dawn. Each camp is worried about the other, but each is also worried about the whole approaching eldritch horror thing as well. And there are other players on the board, with goals we don’t really understand.
Unsurprisingly, given how Dead Country ended, Tara’s overdeveloped sense of responsibility plays a big part in events. Normally I don’t have much patience for the trope where the protagonist is all, “I must do everything myself and protect everyone” and the protagonist’s friends are all, “Knock it off, you unseasoned chicken wing, we’re helping.” But here it works and works well.
It’s also worth mentioning that Tara has been more or less free of any romantic entanglements in the Craft Sequence, which I’ve generally appreciated. That’s no longer the case, and it’s adorable and I love it.
My blog
April 10, 2024
"She had a flooding hallway to climb. She had a hand that ate the world. How did that proverb go? If all you have's a hammer, start hitting things and see what happens?"
Wicked Problems is the second book in the Craft Wars series by Max Gladstone.
Many thanks for sending me a finished copy, Tordotcom Publishing!
First of all, let's take a moment to appreciate that cover by Goñi Montes.
Phew.
IT IS EVERYTHING!!!
Set in the same world as Gladstone's Craft Sequence (which you don't have to read before jumping into the Craft Wars trilogy, but definitely make sure you read Dead Country before this) Wicked Problems is dark and funny, there's trauma and therapy, family and gods, radical gore and eldritch horrors. It's emotional, action-packed and the world-building is just so good! ALSO THE CHARACTERS ::chefs kiss:: Dawn & Mal are my favorite!
Shit is truly coming together and I'm wicked excited for the final installment!
Wicked Problems is the second book in the Craft Wars series by Max Gladstone.
Many thanks for sending me a finished copy, Tordotcom Publishing!
First of all, let's take a moment to appreciate that cover by Goñi Montes.
Phew.
IT IS EVERYTHING!!!
Set in the same world as Gladstone's Craft Sequence (which you don't have to read before jumping into the Craft Wars trilogy, but definitely make sure you read Dead Country before this) Wicked Problems is dark and funny, there's trauma and therapy, family and gods, radical gore and eldritch horrors. It's emotional, action-packed and the world-building is just so good! ALSO THE CHARACTERS ::chefs kiss:: Dawn & Mal are my favorite!
Shit is truly coming together and I'm wicked excited for the final installment!
November 12, 2024
I loved this and I hated this, probably because I feel so invested in so many of the characters. At times this felt like an All Star Reunion Show, with characters from the prior seven books making appearances both grand and miniscule.
I wanted to like this more than I did. And that lack is more my feelings towards the lack of any definitive conclusion in the book, which I really, really wanted.
I mean, this is apocalyptic, cataclysmic stuff! I needed a supernova ending! I needed the death of Gods and the King in Red! I needed . . . I really needed the King in Red to go bye, bye.
So, here's to hope for the next book, Max.
I wanted to like this more than I did. And that lack is more my feelings towards the lack of any definitive conclusion in the book, which I really, really wanted.
I mean, this is apocalyptic, cataclysmic stuff! I needed a supernova ending! I needed the death of Gods and the King in Red! I needed . . . I really needed the King in Red to go bye, bye.
So, here's to hope for the next book, Max.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 5, 2024
It is a contrast to Dead Country, the first book in the trilogy, which was very focused on a couple of characters and the events occurring in a small town threatened by a supernatural menace. This book is much more expansive, rather than just being focused on Tara and Dawn there are also plotlines for most of the protagonists of the earlier series in the setting as they travel back and forth around the world in an attempt to prepare to fight against an apocalyptic threat. While it is good to see the various characters again and see how they interact with each other, the frequent switching between perspectives means that it can feel a bit frenetic at times. It is also good to see some parts of the world we have only heard about before, as well as returning to some familiar locales, since I do like the setting's unusual mix of fantasy and modern elements with lawyer-necromancers and corporations headed by undead sorcerers. I think the most interesting bit of the plot is the tension between the two groups of characters who are both absolutely convinced that they are doing what is necessary to save the world and the other group are making a terrible mistake.
January 12, 2026
Max Gladstone is one of the authors that makes me genuinely love reading. I fell in love with the first Craft sequence, so I've been following these characters for many years, and I rarely see a writer so deeply understand what makes a character interesting and compelling that they can continue to revisit the cast without it feeling worn or repetitive. They grow, change, evolve, and learn without losing the qualities that made them engaging in the first place.
The prose is exceptional, and his turns of phrase make me marvel. It's also set in what is possibly my favorite fantasy world, which feels intensely familiar to the modern world while remaining alien enough to be fascinating and compelling.
I love this book.
The prose is exceptional, and his turns of phrase make me marvel. It's also set in what is possibly my favorite fantasy world, which feels intensely familiar to the modern world while remaining alien enough to be fascinating and compelling.
I love this book.
on-hiatus
January 4, 2025Also, clearly not reading this one. Moving it to "on hiatus" shelf right now. I do hope to be back soon though.
April 28, 2024
Avengers, assemble!
Вот есть за что отнять хотя бы полбалла, но такой получился клевый мега-реюнион персонажей Craft Sequence, что не буду.
Вот есть за что отнять хотя бы полбалла, но такой получился клевый мега-реюнион персонажей Craft Sequence, что не буду.
April 27, 2025
Very slow first 50% of the book, and then I tore through the remaining 50%. My pet peeve is when established series feels the need to introduce a new POV character late in the series - please just let me read about the characters I actually care (and have cared) about, not this new person. Unfortunately, this is what this novel did, and I find Dawn a frustrating, not very enjoyable POV character. Still, I love how this series is bringing together all the MCs of the previous novels and the high stakes and extensive lore of the world Gladstone built. Would for sure recommend the overall series!
June 14, 2024
TL;DR: It took me TWO WEEKS to read this. But it was worth it. I love this series a lot.
Source: NetGalley & I purchased a copy so thank you to the publisher and myself!
Plot: Everyone comes together to either save or consume the world, at this point we just don't know.
Characters: All of them - all of the previous Craft Sequence characters show up (it feels like) and there was so much packed in there. Just wow.
Setting: All over the world here, I love the settings Max Gladstone builds, this travels over a lot and there isn't as much intense detail but we see them clearly as familiar readers at this point.
Magic: We get a little of everything - but especially the Eagle Knights who I haven't read in AGES. As usual I love his magic and how his brain pieces these together.
Thoughts:
I find it very hard sometimes to talk about books and series I love, especially dense and slightly unique and weird ones such as the Craft Wars and Craft Sequence books. Wicked Problems is the second in the Craft Wars series, the follow-up series to the Craft Sequence and while I know it’s not going to work for everyone I also know it can and will work for SO many readers who simply haven’t found this world yet. The world of the Craft is one infused with the magic of gods, humans, chaos, laws, and logic. It’s both over the top and mundane in it’s scope, and the characters are insanely talented and powerful but so fundamentally flawed that they’re relatable. I love them intensely.
This particular volume brings together nearly all of the characters we’ve met previously in the series for the build up to a final showdown. Tara’s ‘fallen’ student Dawn from Dead Country heads one side of the fight. They’re trying to stop the oncoming giant space spiders that intend to eat the world. Tara, Abelard, and Caleb lead another side of this fight. They are trying to stop Dawn but also still stop the spiders (because we love a very complicated miscommunication and misunderstanding here), and finally you have the Mr. Browns. Who simply want to eat everything and help the spiders along the way.
I don’t want to spoil this so here is the very short review for those that picked up Dead Country. Instead of focusing on Tara in this novel we live in a multitude of different PoVs, in fact I’d say Tara has some of the smallest page time. The scope is much wider, the stakes much higher, and the book can feel slow in the middle (it took me two weeks to read). However I think it’s infinitely worth the time and effort and the last 30% had me unable to put the book down.
For current fans, it’s worth it and for those who haven’t tried Max Gladstone, go do it. I love this series, and while it’s not perfect it’s well worth the time and investment. This one is likely going on my favorites of the year.
5 out of 5 Talking Snake Crowns
Source: NetGalley & I purchased a copy so thank you to the publisher and myself!
Plot: Everyone comes together to either save or consume the world, at this point we just don't know.
Characters: All of them - all of the previous Craft Sequence characters show up (it feels like) and there was so much packed in there. Just wow.
Setting: All over the world here, I love the settings Max Gladstone builds, this travels over a lot and there isn't as much intense detail but we see them clearly as familiar readers at this point.
Magic: We get a little of everything - but especially the Eagle Knights who I haven't read in AGES. As usual I love his magic and how his brain pieces these together.
Thoughts:
I find it very hard sometimes to talk about books and series I love, especially dense and slightly unique and weird ones such as the Craft Wars and Craft Sequence books. Wicked Problems is the second in the Craft Wars series, the follow-up series to the Craft Sequence and while I know it’s not going to work for everyone I also know it can and will work for SO many readers who simply haven’t found this world yet. The world of the Craft is one infused with the magic of gods, humans, chaos, laws, and logic. It’s both over the top and mundane in it’s scope, and the characters are insanely talented and powerful but so fundamentally flawed that they’re relatable. I love them intensely.
This particular volume brings together nearly all of the characters we’ve met previously in the series for the build up to a final showdown. Tara’s ‘fallen’ student Dawn from Dead Country heads one side of the fight. They’re trying to stop the oncoming giant space spiders that intend to eat the world. Tara, Abelard, and Caleb lead another side of this fight. They are trying to stop Dawn but also still stop the spiders (because we love a very complicated miscommunication and misunderstanding here), and finally you have the Mr. Browns. Who simply want to eat everything and help the spiders along the way.
I don’t want to spoil this so here is the very short review for those that picked up Dead Country. Instead of focusing on Tara in this novel we live in a multitude of different PoVs, in fact I’d say Tara has some of the smallest page time. The scope is much wider, the stakes much higher, and the book can feel slow in the middle (it took me two weeks to read). However I think it’s infinitely worth the time and effort and the last 30% had me unable to put the book down.
For current fans, it’s worth it and for those who haven’t tried Max Gladstone, go do it. I love this series, and while it’s not perfect it’s well worth the time and investment. This one is likely going on my favorites of the year.
5 out of 5 Talking Snake Crowns
October 1, 2024
When I was in 6th or 7th grade, we did an exercise in English where everyone in the class started writing a story on a piece of paper, then after some fixed period they passed it to the person in front of them who would take over and continue the story, and so on until the entire row of students had had a turn. In a fit of adolescent craftiness, I decided to go meta and had my character show up in the next story handed to me, then both characters in the one following, until by the last story I scarcely had time before the exercise was over to list the retinue of characters emerging, cartoon-like, from an improbably small car. While at the time I thought I was being clever, I later realized that I actually just ruined everyone's story except mine, which is the only one presumably unaffected by my scheme.
This book, at times, reminded me of that last story, the words tripping out as fast as possible to try to jam in every character who's ever mattered in this universe. While Dead Country felt isolated, contemplative, and lonely at times, with the support network our heroes have always taken for granted in this series ripped away, this book is the opposite. It's been a few years since I read the Craft Sequence, so I had a hard time with some of this. I found a synopsis online covering the world of the Craft Sequence up to the launch of Wicked Problems that helped remind me of everyone's names and relationships, and I would highly recommend that even if you're reading this immediately after the earlier books. But it's not just the headliners -- multiple bit characters return with very little to remind you of their deal before they are thrust into the thick of things. And since half the characters are businesslike craftspeople on a mission, they don't spend a lot of time reminiscing with old acquaintances, they get right down to the matter at hand.
All that said, is the book effective? Mostly. It holds together but it did feel long. It is, in fact, quite a bit longer than earlier books in the series, but also there's just a lot to track and a lot of logistics to take the swarm of characters through. I almost dreaded switching to a POV character we hadn't seen in a while because I'd have to recover the full context we left them in, who all these other people who are with them are, etc. Overall, a ton of complexity to remember who is what to who, what side they are on, and what motivates them. Probably one of the books I've used the kindle search function the most on to remember names, after perhaps Game of Thrones books. That's not bad -- I have read all of Game of Thrones and enjoyed it -- but it's not what I have come to expect from the Craft Sequence and not what I was prepared for.
The last quarter of the book tightened up a bit and started picking up some momentum. And the climax and resolution worked well, I thought, which is a mark in its favor.
This book, at times, reminded me of that last story, the words tripping out as fast as possible to try to jam in every character who's ever mattered in this universe. While Dead Country felt isolated, contemplative, and lonely at times, with the support network our heroes have always taken for granted in this series ripped away, this book is the opposite. It's been a few years since I read the Craft Sequence, so I had a hard time with some of this. I found a synopsis online covering the world of the Craft Sequence up to the launch of Wicked Problems that helped remind me of everyone's names and relationships, and I would highly recommend that even if you're reading this immediately after the earlier books. But it's not just the headliners -- multiple bit characters return with very little to remind you of their deal before they are thrust into the thick of things. And since half the characters are businesslike craftspeople on a mission, they don't spend a lot of time reminiscing with old acquaintances, they get right down to the matter at hand.
All that said, is the book effective? Mostly. It holds together but it did feel long. It is, in fact, quite a bit longer than earlier books in the series, but also there's just a lot to track and a lot of logistics to take the swarm of characters through. I almost dreaded switching to a POV character we hadn't seen in a while because I'd have to recover the full context we left them in, who all these other people who are with them are, etc. Overall, a ton of complexity to remember who is what to who, what side they are on, and what motivates them. Probably one of the books I've used the kindle search function the most on to remember names, after perhaps Game of Thrones books. That's not bad -- I have read all of Game of Thrones and enjoyed it -- but it's not what I have come to expect from the Craft Sequence and not what I was prepared for.
The last quarter of the book tightened up a bit and started picking up some momentum. And the climax and resolution worked well, I thought, which is a mark in its favor.
January 5, 2024
More details to come closer to release, but I am kicking my feet and screaming with delight! You must read WICKED PROBLEMS, you must! Where DEAD COUNTRY is an intimate weird western, book two in the Craft Wars series is a globe-trotting international adventure, bringing together familiar characters and locations from across the long running Craft Sequence series. The book left me eager, both for the next volume, and to reread earlier Craft Sequence novels, while being a wholly engaging on its own merit. Often a second book in a trilogy can feel like a bridge between the beginning and the end, not so here, though there is plenty of delicious connecting matter.
And shout out to my favorite moment: a pitch perfect homage to Wagner's Götterdämmerung among the squid gods of Iskari.
A drink will arrive when the book hits shelves everywhere!! Cheers!
And shout out to my favorite moment: a pitch perfect homage to Wagner's Götterdämmerung among the squid gods of Iskari.
A drink will arrive when the book hits shelves everywhere!! Cheers!
December 28, 2025
You just can’t pin down Gladstone. Just when the zag instead of zig in the first book’s ending, suddenly this is a polyphonic ensemble that fleshes out pretty much all the other craft sequence point-of-views, and boy is it satisfying to see them all come together. It actually all feels pretty organic for it to build to this point, which is a feat in of itself. Tensions unresolved from other books come to ahead as the previous conflict draws everything together.
Once again very much interested to see how this continues (ends?)
Once again very much interested to see how this continues (ends?)
May 14, 2024
This one took me awhile to get into. There's a LOT of set up - putting people in the right places. Also it's a full cast return from the first five books and it has been awhile since I read them. Once the story started going, I enjoyed it. I felt like I remembered enough to make it worthwhile and I'll probably read book three.
July 13, 2024
This novel brings back most of the players from the Craft series as a whole and builds to an epic conclusion, yet it's not the end of the story yet. I love the world Gladstone has built and his writing on this is very strong.
May 22, 2024
Aimless 2nd book in the Craft Wars series that suffers badly from middle book syndrome and overdoses on bringing back characters from previous books in the Craft Sequence just because.
June 18, 2025
this continues to be my favorite fantasy series of all time.
June 11, 2024
So Three Parts Dead is the only Craft book I had read recently before the Craft Wars series dropped, and as I started Wicked Problems I was worried I had forgotten too much. But I was pleased to find out Gladstone filled me in on all the key points, and I didn't feel like I had to go back and reread the earlier books.
While Dead Country was narrowly focused on Tara, Wicked Problems brings in the entire Craft ensemble from previous books. And damn was it an absolutely delight.
First Last Snow was my least favorite book, so I was very surprised at how hilarious Temoc was in this.
Also I was rooting for ??? I didn't see that coming, but my 2 fave leads? Here for it.
Pleased to also see this has been expanded from a trilogy because I had no clue how Gladstone was gonna tie this up in one book. I am also really curious to see how he resolves it because of the ... hmmm... double vision of the book? There's the literal magic of it all, but there's also the IRL systems of capitalism they're modeled after. And I think trying to view Dawn and the space spiders from a capitalism POV hasn't quite come into focus for me. But I am not an econ girlie, and it speaks to Gladstone's prowess that I have eagerly read stories about offshore banking (Full Fathom Five) and asked for more.
ETA: Oh! How could I forget some of my fave emotional moments? Kai's surety of self (which is what makes me fuck with Full Fathom Five so hard), and Abelard with the fire at the end. <3
While Dead Country was narrowly focused on Tara, Wicked Problems brings in the entire Craft ensemble from previous books. And damn was it an absolutely delight.
First Last Snow was my least favorite book, so I was very surprised at how hilarious Temoc was in this.
Also I was rooting for ??? I didn't see that coming, but my 2 fave leads? Here for it.
Pleased to also see this has been expanded from a trilogy because I had no clue how Gladstone was gonna tie this up in one book. I am also really curious to see how he resolves it because of the ... hmmm... double vision of the book? There's the literal magic of it all, but there's also the IRL systems of capitalism they're modeled after. And I think trying to view Dawn and the space spiders from a capitalism POV hasn't quite come into focus for me. But I am not an econ girlie, and it speaks to Gladstone's prowess that I have eagerly read stories about offshore banking (Full Fathom Five) and asked for more.
ETA: Oh! How could I forget some of my fave emotional moments? Kai's surety of self (which is what makes me fuck with Full Fathom Five so hard), and Abelard with the fire at the end. <3
September 16, 2024
This is the eighth book in Max Gladstone's acclaimed 'Craft Sequence' as well as the second book in what he's calling 'The Craft Wars', which I'm assuming is intended to be a sequel series, perhaps a trilogy, to wrap it all up. And this is the point where that kicks in with a vengeance. Even though I'd accurately guessed in the final paragraph of my review of 'Dead Country', the first episode in 'The Craft Wars' that "I'm sure the broader story will come a-knockin' at some point", which is exactly what happens here, I wasn't expecting it to go down at all like this.
That's because 'Dead Country' was notably different to the six 'Craft Sequence' books before it. It was shorter, for a start, and much more focused on a very small number of lead characters, two of them, who both appeared to be on the same side. It felt like a YA novel, which meant that it fit the more modern look of the cover art. Gone were the immersive noirish covers that decorated these books when they were published by Tor and in was the cleaner, simpler YA graphic design approach that came in when they shifted over to TorDotCom. And it was rural, set in the village of Edgemont out there on the edge of the Badlands, rather than in one of many sprawling cities.
So I expected 'Wicked Problems' to follow on from 'Dead Country' in story and style. What I found was that it only follows in story. This isn't short, it isn't rural and it isn't YA in the slightest. It's also not remotely focused on a tiny core cast; it trawls in what feels like everyone we've met over seven previous books. In many ways, this reminded me of 'Foundation's Edge', which marked the return of Isaac Asimov to his legendary 'Foundation' trilogy from decades earlier with a remit to trawl in not only what he did in those three books but in pretty much all of his other series. Suddenly, they all coexisted in the same universe.
It's not entirely fair to apply that to this book, because we already knew that all books in the 'Craft Sequence' shared a universe but they did it at a serious remove. 'Three Parts Dead' was set in Alt Coulumb, but 'Two Serpents Rise' shifted to completely different characters in Dresediel Lex. 'Full Fathom Five' did that again, moving to Kavekana. 'Last First Snow' returned to Dresediel Lex, but was clearly intended as a prequel to 'Two Serpents Rise'. I haven't read 'Four Roads Cross', which returns to Alt Coulumb, or 'The Ruin of Angels', which introduces new characters again in another new city, Agdel Lex.
In other words, those six books were set in four different cities and told five different stories with four different cultural backdrops and three different lead characters. Gladstone cross-pollinated to a degree, characters from 'Two Serpents Rise' playing supporting roles in 'Full Fathom Five' and the cast of 'Three Parts Dead' and 'Four Roads Cross' being pretty consistent, but he was building his world in ways that most authors wouldn't dream of doing. And he knew it too, because, while he'd carefully included numbers in his titles from moment one, they didn't appear to be in order, only for that order to manifest itself later because it reflects the internal chronology. So, 'Three Parts Dead' was the first book published but it's the third to unfold in time. The first is really 'Last First Snow', which was the fourth published. And so on.
Given that Gladstone must have seen that ahead of time and planned it, it doesn't seem like much of a stretch to see that he planned this too. If so, 'Dead Country' isn't really the first book in a new series, it's the necessary beginning for what he wanted to do here. He needed one more character to flesh out where he wanted to go and so he wrote her into 'Dead Country' as one of the two core characters we focus on throughout. That book wasn't really about Tara Abernathy, a character we knew from 'Three Parts Dead' and 'Four Roads Cross', acquiring an apprentice; it was all the setup for Dawn, who takes a pivotal role here.
Relatively quickly, everyone bands together into what appears to be two sides. Dawn leads one of them, with the power with which she merged at the end of 'Dead Country', that pure craft being manifesting as a serpent called Sybil. She finds more of it at the beginning of this in the form of a stolen rose and assembles a team, tellingly including both Malina Kekapania and Temoc Almotil from 'Two Serpents Rise'; even though they fought on different sides in that book, along with a new batch of characters she acquires along the way, the Arsenal Company.
Tara opposes her, with the aid of Monk-Technician Abelard from 'Three Parts Dead', Temoc's son Caleb from 'Two Serpents Rise' and Kai Pohala from 'Full Fathom Five', which I've read, and 'The Ruin of Angels', which I haven't. That means that all the squid gods who show up here are new to me. They're easily the most enticing new nuance to how Gladstone takes existing culture and tweaks until he's generated a new fantastic direction for it, but I'd have learned that in Agdel Lex in book six. It shouldn't be new to me here.
Of course, other well-known characters from other books show up here too eventually, like Elayne Kevarian, who was the first real character we met and very possibly the most frequently returned to across the series; Teo Batan, from 'Two Serpents Rise' and 'Full Fathom Five'; and the skeletal Kopil, the King in Red, from 'Two Serpents Rise'. Add to that a whole host of gods, gargoyles and other non-human entities, each joining one side or the other as the book runs on and grows into truly majestic epic stature, and this is something very new for a previously focused series.
And, of course, it's not remotely that simple. Writers know that villains have to believe that they serve as the heroes in their own stories, just as heroes do. This is an impeccable example of what happens when both the hero, clearly Tara, and the villain, clearly Dawn, really aren't either. They both serve as hero and villain, both wanting to save the world from the impending devastation to be wrought when the Skazzerai show up but each having a very different approach to achieve that same goal.
This odd state of affairs is only underlined by having Temoc and Mal join the same side and, much later, other notable combatants. We know, if we've read earlier books, who fought who. We know from superhero movies that there are good guys and bad guys and they're always in opposition in whatever movie they might show up in next, so we expect those characters to fight the very same characters when they meet here, especially as their battles were often personal and featured an element of revenge. However, this isn't a superhero movie. This is much, much deeper than that and it all works very nicely as a reminder that, when it comes to saving the world that we live on, we're all fundamentally on the same side.
I have to admit to some confusion during the earliest chapters. This is an unusual series in that it's possible to start anywhere, with any book, and that holds not only for the half a dozen in the 'Craft Sequence' proper but for 'Dead Country' too. It absolutely doesn't hold here. I was lost for a while, partly because it's been seven years since I've read the first four and partly because I still haven't read the next two. I didn't have a problem diving back into this world for 'Dead Country' but it was too much all at once doing that again here. I'd recommend that new readers attack the series first in whichever order they choose: by publication date or internal chronology. With those six titles in memory, roll on into 'The Craft Wars'.
And, with that said, I'm going to go back to superhero movies, because, once Gladstone has set up his sides and got us onboard with where he's going, he ups the tempo considerably and has overt fun in throwing his characters against each other with the energy of a six-year-old playing with his collection of action figures but the skill of an established writer creating an immersive story. The action is epic and grandiose, starting with a prison escape sequence from Shenshan Prison in the Shining Empire. This is where a dead god rises and a mountain falls, as the back cover blurb has it, and the action meets that level of grandeur.
And it only escalates from there. The opera sequence is magnificent. The observatory sequence is pretty close. The final battle is as epic as anything that wrapped up the 'Infinity War' saga in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Somehow Gladstone keeps the level of urgency needed to make those scenes work flowing faster and faster, even when he's doing something as unlikely as documenting an entire university lecture within a dream sequence. Chapter 36 is surely the weirdest thing that happens in this book, even though it's fundamentally the most mundane, maybe because of that.
What I have to wonder is, what comes next.
Originally posted at the Nameless Zine in September 2024:
https://www.thenamelesszine.org/Books...
Index of all my Nameless Zine reviews:
https://books.apocalypselaterempire.com/
That's because 'Dead Country' was notably different to the six 'Craft Sequence' books before it. It was shorter, for a start, and much more focused on a very small number of lead characters, two of them, who both appeared to be on the same side. It felt like a YA novel, which meant that it fit the more modern look of the cover art. Gone were the immersive noirish covers that decorated these books when they were published by Tor and in was the cleaner, simpler YA graphic design approach that came in when they shifted over to TorDotCom. And it was rural, set in the village of Edgemont out there on the edge of the Badlands, rather than in one of many sprawling cities.
So I expected 'Wicked Problems' to follow on from 'Dead Country' in story and style. What I found was that it only follows in story. This isn't short, it isn't rural and it isn't YA in the slightest. It's also not remotely focused on a tiny core cast; it trawls in what feels like everyone we've met over seven previous books. In many ways, this reminded me of 'Foundation's Edge', which marked the return of Isaac Asimov to his legendary 'Foundation' trilogy from decades earlier with a remit to trawl in not only what he did in those three books but in pretty much all of his other series. Suddenly, they all coexisted in the same universe.
It's not entirely fair to apply that to this book, because we already knew that all books in the 'Craft Sequence' shared a universe but they did it at a serious remove. 'Three Parts Dead' was set in Alt Coulumb, but 'Two Serpents Rise' shifted to completely different characters in Dresediel Lex. 'Full Fathom Five' did that again, moving to Kavekana. 'Last First Snow' returned to Dresediel Lex, but was clearly intended as a prequel to 'Two Serpents Rise'. I haven't read 'Four Roads Cross', which returns to Alt Coulumb, or 'The Ruin of Angels', which introduces new characters again in another new city, Agdel Lex.
In other words, those six books were set in four different cities and told five different stories with four different cultural backdrops and three different lead characters. Gladstone cross-pollinated to a degree, characters from 'Two Serpents Rise' playing supporting roles in 'Full Fathom Five' and the cast of 'Three Parts Dead' and 'Four Roads Cross' being pretty consistent, but he was building his world in ways that most authors wouldn't dream of doing. And he knew it too, because, while he'd carefully included numbers in his titles from moment one, they didn't appear to be in order, only for that order to manifest itself later because it reflects the internal chronology. So, 'Three Parts Dead' was the first book published but it's the third to unfold in time. The first is really 'Last First Snow', which was the fourth published. And so on.
Given that Gladstone must have seen that ahead of time and planned it, it doesn't seem like much of a stretch to see that he planned this too. If so, 'Dead Country' isn't really the first book in a new series, it's the necessary beginning for what he wanted to do here. He needed one more character to flesh out where he wanted to go and so he wrote her into 'Dead Country' as one of the two core characters we focus on throughout. That book wasn't really about Tara Abernathy, a character we knew from 'Three Parts Dead' and 'Four Roads Cross', acquiring an apprentice; it was all the setup for Dawn, who takes a pivotal role here.
Relatively quickly, everyone bands together into what appears to be two sides. Dawn leads one of them, with the power with which she merged at the end of 'Dead Country', that pure craft being manifesting as a serpent called Sybil. She finds more of it at the beginning of this in the form of a stolen rose and assembles a team, tellingly including both Malina Kekapania and Temoc Almotil from 'Two Serpents Rise'; even though they fought on different sides in that book, along with a new batch of characters she acquires along the way, the Arsenal Company.
Tara opposes her, with the aid of Monk-Technician Abelard from 'Three Parts Dead', Temoc's son Caleb from 'Two Serpents Rise' and Kai Pohala from 'Full Fathom Five', which I've read, and 'The Ruin of Angels', which I haven't. That means that all the squid gods who show up here are new to me. They're easily the most enticing new nuance to how Gladstone takes existing culture and tweaks until he's generated a new fantastic direction for it, but I'd have learned that in Agdel Lex in book six. It shouldn't be new to me here.
Of course, other well-known characters from other books show up here too eventually, like Elayne Kevarian, who was the first real character we met and very possibly the most frequently returned to across the series; Teo Batan, from 'Two Serpents Rise' and 'Full Fathom Five'; and the skeletal Kopil, the King in Red, from 'Two Serpents Rise'. Add to that a whole host of gods, gargoyles and other non-human entities, each joining one side or the other as the book runs on and grows into truly majestic epic stature, and this is something very new for a previously focused series.
And, of course, it's not remotely that simple. Writers know that villains have to believe that they serve as the heroes in their own stories, just as heroes do. This is an impeccable example of what happens when both the hero, clearly Tara, and the villain, clearly Dawn, really aren't either. They both serve as hero and villain, both wanting to save the world from the impending devastation to be wrought when the Skazzerai show up but each having a very different approach to achieve that same goal.
This odd state of affairs is only underlined by having Temoc and Mal join the same side and, much later, other notable combatants. We know, if we've read earlier books, who fought who. We know from superhero movies that there are good guys and bad guys and they're always in opposition in whatever movie they might show up in next, so we expect those characters to fight the very same characters when they meet here, especially as their battles were often personal and featured an element of revenge. However, this isn't a superhero movie. This is much, much deeper than that and it all works very nicely as a reminder that, when it comes to saving the world that we live on, we're all fundamentally on the same side.
I have to admit to some confusion during the earliest chapters. This is an unusual series in that it's possible to start anywhere, with any book, and that holds not only for the half a dozen in the 'Craft Sequence' proper but for 'Dead Country' too. It absolutely doesn't hold here. I was lost for a while, partly because it's been seven years since I've read the first four and partly because I still haven't read the next two. I didn't have a problem diving back into this world for 'Dead Country' but it was too much all at once doing that again here. I'd recommend that new readers attack the series first in whichever order they choose: by publication date or internal chronology. With those six titles in memory, roll on into 'The Craft Wars'.
And, with that said, I'm going to go back to superhero movies, because, once Gladstone has set up his sides and got us onboard with where he's going, he ups the tempo considerably and has overt fun in throwing his characters against each other with the energy of a six-year-old playing with his collection of action figures but the skill of an established writer creating an immersive story. The action is epic and grandiose, starting with a prison escape sequence from Shenshan Prison in the Shining Empire. This is where a dead god rises and a mountain falls, as the back cover blurb has it, and the action meets that level of grandeur.
And it only escalates from there. The opera sequence is magnificent. The observatory sequence is pretty close. The final battle is as epic as anything that wrapped up the 'Infinity War' saga in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Somehow Gladstone keeps the level of urgency needed to make those scenes work flowing faster and faster, even when he's doing something as unlikely as documenting an entire university lecture within a dream sequence. Chapter 36 is surely the weirdest thing that happens in this book, even though it's fundamentally the most mundane, maybe because of that.
What I have to wonder is, what comes next.
Originally posted at the Nameless Zine in September 2024:
https://www.thenamelesszine.org/Books...
Index of all my Nameless Zine reviews:
https://books.apocalypselaterempire.com/
September 2, 2024
I like it better than dead country as a craft novel, but it could not be more different. Where the previous one was focused to the point of feeling meditative, this is an octane fueled rollercoaster on steroids. And I loved... A lot of it.
I had genuine character pov whiplash at the beginning, combined with the (to me) very trope-y writing of Dawn. In fact, the hard reset in the prologue, with Dawn splitting from 'Sybil' told me I was set up for disappointment. Tara has earned the right to be a self hating emo brat, and has worked hard for all the followers that she gets. But why Dawn engenders any loyalty in her hangers-on at all mystified me throughout the book. And the Dawn Mal romance read like 'now kiss' fanfiction.
But, at about the midway point, things speed up, Dawn moves to the background as the characters in her posse move mercifully to the foreground. Iskar is great, Tiffany was fun, Abelard was a welcome puff of fresh air. Loved the world building as always, still a bit doubtful about the Sanderson-esque bigger bad (skazzerai) that is imminent - I trust Gladstone is a more caring writer for his characters and won't let them burn like kindling for some cosmic plot.
Pro: The world of the craft is still one of my all time favourites. Prose is a lot tighter and less floral than Dead Country was, both sassy chats and philosophical musings come across well. Really great characters woven together in a fun way.
YMMV: whereas Dead country was fairly self contained, I don't think this book works if you haven't read and liked the previous ones. I myself found myself googling side characters I forgot reading about more than 5 years ago. I'm a bit disappointed Gladstone can't keep his setting within his setting and needs to introduce the extra-planar/interstellar bad boys from outer space - but they work extremely well thematically. Author is a firm lefty and there's a lot of progressive values in the book.
Cons: Dawn is just bad, didn't like her last book, like her even less now - if her character would have been off (she can't be cause she's too important), this would be an easy four or even five stars. I appreciate the writer is very very progressive, but all the romantic fluidity is detrimental to some of the characters and almost feels a bit like male wish fulfillment to me sometimes. Lots of POV characters, maybe should have been two books this so storylines get more of a chance to breathe?
I had genuine character pov whiplash at the beginning, combined with the (to me) very trope-y writing of Dawn. In fact, the hard reset in the prologue, with Dawn splitting from 'Sybil' told me I was set up for disappointment. Tara has earned the right to be a self hating emo brat, and has worked hard for all the followers that she gets. But why Dawn engenders any loyalty in her hangers-on at all mystified me throughout the book. And the Dawn Mal romance read like 'now kiss' fanfiction.
But, at about the midway point, things speed up, Dawn moves to the background as the characters in her posse move mercifully to the foreground. Iskar is great, Tiffany was fun, Abelard was a welcome puff of fresh air. Loved the world building as always, still a bit doubtful about the Sanderson-esque bigger bad (skazzerai) that is imminent - I trust Gladstone is a more caring writer for his characters and won't let them burn like kindling for some cosmic plot.
Pro: The world of the craft is still one of my all time favourites. Prose is a lot tighter and less floral than Dead Country was, both sassy chats and philosophical musings come across well. Really great characters woven together in a fun way.
YMMV: whereas Dead country was fairly self contained, I don't think this book works if you haven't read and liked the previous ones. I myself found myself googling side characters I forgot reading about more than 5 years ago. I'm a bit disappointed Gladstone can't keep his setting within his setting and needs to introduce the extra-planar/interstellar bad boys from outer space - but they work extremely well thematically. Author is a firm lefty and there's a lot of progressive values in the book.
Cons: Dawn is just bad, didn't like her last book, like her even less now - if her character would have been off (she can't be cause she's too important), this would be an easy four or even five stars. I appreciate the writer is very very progressive, but all the romantic fluidity is detrimental to some of the characters and almost feels a bit like male wish fulfillment to me sometimes. Lots of POV characters, maybe should have been two books this so storylines get more of a chance to breathe?
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 31, 2024
As predicted this is just an easy fives stars of a Craft book and probably my favorite one. No dull moments, it's all just weird shit happening with all the best characters and all the best writing. Somehow the themes were on point as well. Smoking a rolled up painting to restore your soul, hell yeah. Craft Sequence is still criminally underread in the genre.
May 1, 2024
There is a new Craft Wars book out! I was a bad girlfriend and pinched my ladylove’s copy of Max Gladstone’s Wicked Problems before she had a chance to read it, and then I didn’t finish it quite as fast as I’d intended to. But I did finish it so now I can give it back and begin being a bad girlfriend in a different way (impatiently bugging her to read it already).
Taking place shortly after the events of Dead Country, the problems we had at the end of that novel have burst their quiet little Edgemont-adjacent bounds and are now everyone’s problem, all over the world. Thus Wicked Problems is no longer just about Tara Abernathy’s family issues, no matter how much Tara Abernathy tends toward denial about her ability to single-handedly fix everything without bothering anybody else. Instead we get a big, complex, multi-faction epic where all our friends from previous books show up again whether they like it or not (usually not), including people I forgot about because I read the first five books of the Craft Sequence like ten years ago at this point. The journey takes us all over the world and involves dead gods, a prison break, creepy razor wire monsters, a trip to definitely-not-Paris to almost get murdered at the opera, the phrase “prophet-and-loss statement,” a somewhat self-indulgent appearance of the Tiffany Paradox (this was the one bit that took me out of the story a little too much, because I too have read the viral Tumblr post about the Tiffany Paradox, Max), and a lot of gay feelings that neither Kai nor Tara actually have time for (since they keep almost getting murdered at the opera by squids and razor wire monsters and, at one point, a vampire, which I had forgotten existed in this universe).
In the necromancy-flavored late capitalist hellscape that is the world after the God Wars, how to save the world from being eaten by the skazzerai from beyond the stars is not just a complicated question, but several complicated questions–questions like, is the world really worth “saving” given how incredibly fucked up it is? Can the brutally rational secularist power-hungry assholes of the Craft set aside their differences with the fanatically religious power-hungry assholes of various faiths for long enough to do anything useful? Is Dawn, Tara’s former student now semi-integrated with a god-esque creature made of sentient Craft, going to stop the skazzerai, or is her plan very bad and does she have to be stopped before we can stop the skazzerai? What are the skazzerai actually (since they aren’t literally giant space spiders), and where do they come from, and as the King in Red points out, how would you know you were facing one?
The immediate problem facing most of our several protagonists here is a little shard of what appears to be iron and it is so, so hungry. It seems to be a relic from last time the skazzerai tried to eat the world (they got run off but in the process the world broke and a functionally new one had to be reborn). Due to a series of mishaps the shard breaks out of its little holding container and winds up in a new holding container, which is the dying nature goddess Ajaia in the form of a rose, who is then contained in Dawn’s hand, which is then contained in a heavily warded glove. This multilayered battlefield of power in her hand, combined with her earlier merging with the new god-thing of Craft (now dubbed Sybil and manifesting as a serpent to maintain some separateness from Dawn), gives Dawn some truly terrifying power at her disposal, if she can figure out how to use it without getting eaten.
This was funny, scary, action-packed, and generally pretty good at holding my attention during the parts of this past week or so when I simply could not pay any attention to anything, so well done. Can’t wait to see how all these overpowered dickheads get themselves into and out of their next set of world-ending scrapes.
Originally posted at Hunger and flame.
Taking place shortly after the events of Dead Country, the problems we had at the end of that novel have burst their quiet little Edgemont-adjacent bounds and are now everyone’s problem, all over the world. Thus Wicked Problems is no longer just about Tara Abernathy’s family issues, no matter how much Tara Abernathy tends toward denial about her ability to single-handedly fix everything without bothering anybody else. Instead we get a big, complex, multi-faction epic where all our friends from previous books show up again whether they like it or not (usually not), including people I forgot about because I read the first five books of the Craft Sequence like ten years ago at this point. The journey takes us all over the world and involves dead gods, a prison break, creepy razor wire monsters, a trip to definitely-not-Paris to almost get murdered at the opera, the phrase “prophet-and-loss statement,” a somewhat self-indulgent appearance of the Tiffany Paradox (this was the one bit that took me out of the story a little too much, because I too have read the viral Tumblr post about the Tiffany Paradox, Max), and a lot of gay feelings that neither Kai nor Tara actually have time for (since they keep almost getting murdered at the opera by squids and razor wire monsters and, at one point, a vampire, which I had forgotten existed in this universe).
In the necromancy-flavored late capitalist hellscape that is the world after the God Wars, how to save the world from being eaten by the skazzerai from beyond the stars is not just a complicated question, but several complicated questions–questions like, is the world really worth “saving” given how incredibly fucked up it is? Can the brutally rational secularist power-hungry assholes of the Craft set aside their differences with the fanatically religious power-hungry assholes of various faiths for long enough to do anything useful? Is Dawn, Tara’s former student now semi-integrated with a god-esque creature made of sentient Craft, going to stop the skazzerai, or is her plan very bad and does she have to be stopped before we can stop the skazzerai? What are the skazzerai actually (since they aren’t literally giant space spiders), and where do they come from, and as the King in Red points out, how would you know you were facing one?
The immediate problem facing most of our several protagonists here is a little shard of what appears to be iron and it is so, so hungry. It seems to be a relic from last time the skazzerai tried to eat the world (they got run off but in the process the world broke and a functionally new one had to be reborn). Due to a series of mishaps the shard breaks out of its little holding container and winds up in a new holding container, which is the dying nature goddess Ajaia in the form of a rose, who is then contained in Dawn’s hand, which is then contained in a heavily warded glove. This multilayered battlefield of power in her hand, combined with her earlier merging with the new god-thing of Craft (now dubbed Sybil and manifesting as a serpent to maintain some separateness from Dawn), gives Dawn some truly terrifying power at her disposal, if she can figure out how to use it without getting eaten.
This was funny, scary, action-packed, and generally pretty good at holding my attention during the parts of this past week or so when I simply could not pay any attention to anything, so well done. Can’t wait to see how all these overpowered dickheads get themselves into and out of their next set of world-ending scrapes.
Originally posted at Hunger and flame.
February 7, 2024
As usual, Max Gladstone has crafted a fascinating, thought-provoking novel that I'm not sure I agree with in its entirety, but that is well worth my time and thought because of that disagreement. Picking up where "Dead Country" left off, "Wicked Problems" follows Tara, Dawn, and their respective allies as they gather information and power in an attempt to stop the spiders. First, though, they have to stop each other from stopping the spiders in the *wrong* way. What the right way might be, and whether it has any hope of success, is a question that unsurprisingly continues to be deferred, but Gladstone deftly balances the two rival agendas without committing to a favorite side or caricaturing the failures of either. As in his (supposedly) unrelated "Last Exit," Gladstone again puts questions of power and sacrifice at the center of the story. Are the world, and the interactions it is composed of, driven by an underlying logic of might makes right, or are there other forces at play? Is amassing more power, especially at great personal cost, the only way to make the world better, or does doing so inherently compromise any noble goals? How do the bonds between people make us stronger, and how do they tie us down? Tara and Dawn, while they may harbor a great deal of unresolved anger and fear towards each other, and claim to be following vastly different paths, offer striking similarities in their answers, as both seek to reshape themselves to meet what they see as the coming evil to end all evils. I'm curious to see where the next volume(s) in the Craft Wars take us, and whether the author chooses to offer any clear answers to the questions posed here. I found the conclusions in "Empress of Forever" and "Last Exit" somewhat disappointing, perhaps as a reflection of my own pessimism and status as a cog in some of the very systems these books are trying to expose, criticize, and dismantle. On a more literary level, the vast scale and world-ending stakes in this book sometimes leave me more distant and unmoved than in "Dead Country," where the weight of family and memory helped make the conflicts more personal. Still, despite fearing both an unsatisfying ending and an increasing escalation of stakes, I'm curious to see where these questions lead next.
Four out of five stars. My own personal peeves aside, a solid sequel that continues to poke at the question of how best to live in, and improve, a failing world.
Four out of five stars. My own personal peeves aside, a solid sequel that continues to poke at the question of how best to live in, and improve, a failing world.
December 27, 2024
This book is what I thought Dead Country would be -- it's the big book where all the main characters from previous books come together to deal with the brewing apocalypse. In contrast, Dead Country was a character study of Tara that juxtaposed her personal crisis (her father died) with the global crisis (the world is ending). In my review for Dead Country, I speculated that my initial issues in finishing that book stemmed from the fact that Gladstone's writing first drafts in pen and paper, and this was an artifact of the rawness of his resulting prose. This book suggests my hypothesis was wrong: the thing I bounced off of was probably an active choice on his part.
This is confusing on a few levels -- for one, because the tone of these two books are necessarily very different. The first book focuses on one character, the second book has between 3 to 6 depending on how you count; the first book has a limited geographical book, the second book has scenes that take place across the world; etc etc. I wonder if the reasons for this will become clearer as the series progresses? There might be a marketing element to it -- after all, Dead Country is pitched as a new entry-point for the series, so maybe the idea was that they thought someone who read Dead Country would probably go back and read the older Craft books and then would be prepared for this book, which is only a small step away from being an "Avengers Assemble!" premise.
In any case, I devoured this book. Wicked Problems brings back all the main characters of previous books (Tara, Caleb, Kai) and many of the secondary characters (Abelard, Shale, Temoc, Mal, ...). While they all get equal billing, the characters from Dresediel Lex have the biggest impact for me: they've been farthest from the limelight in recent books and their character dynamics are really a pleasure to read. Temoc, in particular, really shines here; I sniggered basically once a page when he was on-screen. It helps that I can no longer get Troy Duran's voice out of my head when he speaks.
Overall, this book was exactly what I wanted when I opened Dead Country, so its belated arrival did not stop me from enjoying it to the utmost. I'm really looking forward to the next couple of books to see how Gladstone wraps up this series.
This is confusing on a few levels -- for one, because the tone of these two books are necessarily very different. The first book focuses on one character, the second book has between 3 to 6 depending on how you count; the first book has a limited geographical book, the second book has scenes that take place across the world; etc etc. I wonder if the reasons for this will become clearer as the series progresses? There might be a marketing element to it -- after all, Dead Country is pitched as a new entry-point for the series, so maybe the idea was that they thought someone who read Dead Country would probably go back and read the older Craft books and then would be prepared for this book, which is only a small step away from being an "Avengers Assemble!" premise.
In any case, I devoured this book. Wicked Problems brings back all the main characters of previous books (Tara, Caleb, Kai) and many of the secondary characters (Abelard, Shale, Temoc, Mal, ...). While they all get equal billing, the characters from Dresediel Lex have the biggest impact for me: they've been farthest from the limelight in recent books and their character dynamics are really a pleasure to read. Temoc, in particular, really shines here; I sniggered basically once a page when he was on-screen. It helps that I can no longer get Troy Duran's voice out of my head when he speaks.
Overall, this book was exactly what I wanted when I opened Dead Country, so its belated arrival did not stop me from enjoying it to the utmost. I'm really looking forward to the next couple of books to see how Gladstone wraps up this series.
August 5, 2025
This second book of the Craft Wars sequence pans out from Tara and Dawn, the two main characters of the previous book. Dawn is part goddess now and her mission is to try to thwart the eldrich horror invaders that are approaching from the stars. Tara wants to try to stop Dawn, but she doesn't really know what Dawn's goals are. She just knows that Dawn is incredibly powerful and unstable.
In this book, most of the main characters from the previous Craft sequence make appearances. Caleb, Abelard and Kai try to assist Tara. The problem is that Tara feels like everything that is happening is her fault and she doesn't want any assistance. Temoc, Caleb's implacable father, and Mal, Caleb's former zealot girlfriend, end up with Dawn. From here, Abelard and Caleb split off to track Dawn and Kai and Tara try to get more information on... I'm not really sure because it become irrelevant. So there are three main plotlines that the author jumps back and forth from. Eventually, they do all meet up at the end of the book. But even then no one manages to have an actual conversation.
As always, there are really cool concepts here. There's a Mr. Brown, or several Mr. Browns, that are on the trail of all our heroes. He can come apart into a deadly mass of iron, spidery arms that can rip people apart in seconds. We never really learn who he is or who he's working for, though. He's just someone that everyone has to keep running away from. There's an alternate Paris, conquered by the squid god. There's Dresediel Lex, a Mexico City/Los Angeles amalgam, where serpent goddesses slumber in wait to fight the threat from the stars. There are power-ups for many of the characters.
There was a lot of tension and franticness in this book. But when it comes down to it, the book revolves around one of my least favorite tropes: one good conversation would have solved most of the plot. The rushed nature of what everyone was doing couldn't obscure that fact.
I would say that the setting of this book was my favorite part. And the author finally (maybe) has the whole gang together. But the book felt all over the place and I'm not sure the plot actually made much sense.
In this book, most of the main characters from the previous Craft sequence make appearances. Caleb, Abelard and Kai try to assist Tara. The problem is that Tara feels like everything that is happening is her fault and she doesn't want any assistance. Temoc, Caleb's implacable father, and Mal, Caleb's former zealot girlfriend, end up with Dawn. From here, Abelard and Caleb split off to track Dawn and Kai and Tara try to get more information on... I'm not really sure because it become irrelevant. So there are three main plotlines that the author jumps back and forth from. Eventually, they do all meet up at the end of the book. But even then no one manages to have an actual conversation.
As always, there are really cool concepts here. There's a Mr. Brown, or several Mr. Browns, that are on the trail of all our heroes. He can come apart into a deadly mass of iron, spidery arms that can rip people apart in seconds. We never really learn who he is or who he's working for, though. He's just someone that everyone has to keep running away from. There's an alternate Paris, conquered by the squid god. There's Dresediel Lex, a Mexico City/Los Angeles amalgam, where serpent goddesses slumber in wait to fight the threat from the stars. There are power-ups for many of the characters.
There was a lot of tension and franticness in this book. But when it comes down to it, the book revolves around one of my least favorite tropes: one good conversation would have solved most of the plot. The rushed nature of what everyone was doing couldn't obscure that fact.
I would say that the setting of this book was my favorite part. And the author finally (maybe) has the whole gang together. But the book felt all over the place and I'm not sure the plot actually made much sense.
March 19, 2024
I cannot recommend this series enough.
Indeed, it is not only fantastically written, practically overflowing with great lines and references and wordplay, it is also one of those rare, beautifully blooming world-building exercises that straddle the fence between the oh-so-familiar and the expertly sharp Lovecraftian-mythos-turned-legalistic-actuarial-oligarchy.
Sound too complicated?
Yes -- and no.
Max Gladstone is one of those writers that can suck you in, make everything JUST FINE -- right before he throws you into godzilla vs cthuhlu scale conflict.
So why isn't EVERYONE reading these Craft books?
Honestly... I have NO IDEA. They're WILD, creative, emotional, and exciting.
In this particular novel, we get to have ALL of the great PoVs that came from the original 5 book series in what could only be described as an Avengers-Level narrative.
And here's where *I* love it most: As I read all of these, originally, I was giddy with the idea that it was pulling off a Charlie Stross Laundry Files moment, but instead of secret service, it was legal challenges, industrial espionage, and ELDER GOD corporate wars.
Not only do we get all of that here, but it just keeps raising the stakes.
Now, was I rather surprised to see it go in quite this direction after Dead Country, where it felt so down-to-earth and shaped like a western? Yep! But getting back into the lovecraftian-fueled big cities IS a fantastic literary device, custom tailored to keep us on our toes or skeleton wings or alchemical marriages.
My only desire is to turn EVERYONE on to these wonderful novels, to make sure that they never get lost, that they become as truly big as they OUGHT to be.
Quality is quality, and these have it all.
Indeed, it is not only fantastically written, practically overflowing with great lines and references and wordplay, it is also one of those rare, beautifully blooming world-building exercises that straddle the fence between the oh-so-familiar and the expertly sharp Lovecraftian-mythos-turned-legalistic-actuarial-oligarchy.
Sound too complicated?
Yes -- and no.
Max Gladstone is one of those writers that can suck you in, make everything JUST FINE -- right before he throws you into godzilla vs cthuhlu scale conflict.
So why isn't EVERYONE reading these Craft books?
Honestly... I have NO IDEA. They're WILD, creative, emotional, and exciting.
In this particular novel, we get to have ALL of the great PoVs that came from the original 5 book series in what could only be described as an Avengers-Level narrative.
And here's where *I* love it most: As I read all of these, originally, I was giddy with the idea that it was pulling off a Charlie Stross Laundry Files moment, but instead of secret service, it was legal challenges, industrial espionage, and ELDER GOD corporate wars.
Not only do we get all of that here, but it just keeps raising the stakes.
Now, was I rather surprised to see it go in quite this direction after Dead Country, where it felt so down-to-earth and shaped like a western? Yep! But getting back into the lovecraftian-fueled big cities IS a fantastic literary device, custom tailored to keep us on our toes or skeleton wings or alchemical marriages.
My only desire is to turn EVERYONE on to these wonderful novels, to make sure that they never get lost, that they become as truly big as they OUGHT to be.
Quality is quality, and these have it all.
October 9, 2025
This was an all-but-DNF. Basically, it took me about a year to get through this audiobook, and for the last couple hours of it, I largely just let it play without paying close attention.
Every single scene is somehow fundamentally the same. The author feels the need to hit upon the imagery over and over again. Someone has a skeletal arm animated by the craft, someone has a magical serpent living out of their arm, the world is dusty and there are malevolent gods over the horizon, humans are but bugs harvesting what sustenance they can from the rotting corpse of a once-mighty god, blah blah blah.
Every character interaction is about whether one character can really trust another. Characters often attack each other, but often --whether misguided or not-- in an attempt to help out the person they're attacking. Generational trauma is addressed, sometimes with characters very literally cutting into their own children.
It's all very Dusty Horror, if that's the name for this genre. We're supposed to be intimidated by gods who don't have human interests at heart. We're supposed to think of the world as broken, and what's left is actively breaking. It's just existential angst and horror on every goddamn page. At this point, I find myself longing for an incongruous scene of people playing with dolphins. Just something to break up the tedium.
The first book was a little easier than the second. But, considering how long and awful this one was, I will not be picking up the third. My desire to finish what I start almost broke me this time.
Every single scene is somehow fundamentally the same. The author feels the need to hit upon the imagery over and over again. Someone has a skeletal arm animated by the craft, someone has a magical serpent living out of their arm, the world is dusty and there are malevolent gods over the horizon, humans are but bugs harvesting what sustenance they can from the rotting corpse of a once-mighty god, blah blah blah.
Every character interaction is about whether one character can really trust another. Characters often attack each other, but often --whether misguided or not-- in an attempt to help out the person they're attacking. Generational trauma is addressed, sometimes with characters very literally cutting into their own children.
It's all very Dusty Horror, if that's the name for this genre. We're supposed to be intimidated by gods who don't have human interests at heart. We're supposed to think of the world as broken, and what's left is actively breaking. It's just existential angst and horror on every goddamn page. At this point, I find myself longing for an incongruous scene of people playing with dolphins. Just something to break up the tedium.
The first book was a little easier than the second. But, considering how long and awful this one was, I will not be picking up the third. My desire to finish what I start almost broke me this time.
October 19, 2025
This is Book Two of the "Craft Wars" series. But come in knowing that there are a half-dozen other "Craft" novels that precede "Craft Wars". Book One, Dead Country, nicely finessed those preceding novels by providing tight exposition and an irresistible heroine in the redoubtable Tara Abernathy. That book is Tara and her student, Dawn, in brilliant battle with a series of increasingly ominous threats.
Wicked Problems mostly sidelines Tara to focus on Dawn as she gathers acolytes to battle terrifying, world-threatening interdimensional spiders. The meandering plot follows a dozen characters from those previous Craft books, hauling out their complex relationships and histories.
This is a much fatter book than its predecessor and, unlike Book One, a lack of knowledge of the previous Craft series starts to become a problem in comprehending the goings-on. Characters battle one another using arcane powers based in prayer and, well, debating skills. Think someone's doomed? Don't worry, they'll manifest some crazy superpower by invoking a "dead" god or sucking the "soul" out of a thousand year-old parchment.
None of which is to say that it isn't a good time. Gladstone's writing is smooth and the poetry of the Craft and related magicks is engaging. Characters are sharp and the dialogue often funny (the humor usually coming from unexpected contemporary anachronisms). I'd pretty much caught up with who everybody was by the ending which, once you and the exhausted company of characters get there, is clearly just set-up for Book Three.
Wicked Problems mostly sidelines Tara to focus on Dawn as she gathers acolytes to battle terrifying, world-threatening interdimensional spiders. The meandering plot follows a dozen characters from those previous Craft books, hauling out their complex relationships and histories.
This is a much fatter book than its predecessor and, unlike Book One, a lack of knowledge of the previous Craft series starts to become a problem in comprehending the goings-on. Characters battle one another using arcane powers based in prayer and, well, debating skills. Think someone's doomed? Don't worry, they'll manifest some crazy superpower by invoking a "dead" god or sucking the "soul" out of a thousand year-old parchment.
None of which is to say that it isn't a good time. Gladstone's writing is smooth and the poetry of the Craft and related magicks is engaging. Characters are sharp and the dialogue often funny (the humor usually coming from unexpected contemporary anachronisms). I'd pretty much caught up with who everybody was by the ending which, once you and the exhausted company of characters get there, is clearly just set-up for Book Three.
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