This is a tough review for me to write. I've met Philippa, and she is one of the coolest, most engaging, and most interesting authors with whom I've had the pleasure of conversing. She has an amazingly rich imagination, a cool, cheeky style, and, usually, some well-crafted prose. But, sad to say, this is not the case with Wrayth, the third Book of the Order, following the much better Geist and Spectyr. The tale feels hurried, cobbled together and written far too quickly and carelessly, most likely at the impatient insistence of one of Ace Fantasy's editors. I know that Philippa is actively writing more than one series right now, and perhaps her head is simply in another project.
Whatever the case, I really can't find a way to give Wrayth more than one star. The story is formulaic, for the most part predictable, and decidedly unfinished feeling. The characters are paper thin - each more one dimensionally heroic and martyr-like than the last, and the villains are too transparently evil to be engaging or interesting in the least.
That's not to say that the series doesn't have potential. It does. The magic system, the Order, the Geists, the airships, and so many other things are all great invention, but none of it is utilized effectively in Wrayth. The story spins out too quickly, with no chance for effective or atmospheric description, and no room for building on the mythos established in the earlier books. So to with the central characters - Sorcha, Merrick, and Raed are all potentially intriguing characters that one could really get behind. But it seems there is no time in Wrayth to delve into their natures or humanize them in a way that will make them truly come to life. The only real saving grace is the Rosin, the lionlike Geistlord whose motivations are as mysterious as his true nature (though a foreshadowing turn at the end of the novel unfortunately takes much of that mystery away).
I can't recommend Wrayth, as it really does fail to rise to the standard established by Philippa in Geist. But if you, like me, have already read Geist and Spectyr, I'd recommend you muscle through Wrayth and hope for the next installment to bring the series' depth and quality back on track. At least, that's what I plan on doing, all the while rooting for Philippa to knock the next Book of the Order out of the park.