Sam Pedwell

Not up to the very high standard of the author's preceding books. It appears reasonable to presume that the character was selected just to deviate from the all-male characters of the preceding books, rather than on actual merit. But unlike the author's previous books, the character in this book appears relatively un-noteworthy and obscure. Moreover, in contrast to characters in the other books, she just comes across as an irresponsible, naive and selfish silver-spooner, whose actions were near-undeniably on the wrong side of history. If she did make a significant contribution to the communist cause, which seems doubtful, she has blood on her hands. The author's persistent idolising of the character and refusal to critique, which appears as virtue signalling, thus gets irritating fast. So in summary, not a patch on the author's preceding books in terms of readability and interest, and more than that actually quite irritating and unenjoyable to read. This is probably the only book by the author that I'd skip.