I really enjoyed reading this as the culmination of the four seasonal books. I’m hesitant to give it five stars (but doing it anyway). I felt like this book needed the other three to make it all hang together, but then I’ve pointed out repeatedly that these books are like jigsaw puzzles and you just can’t see the whole picture from one section, so it’s service as usual I think, and hence I’m willing to give it the stars. Looking back, I gave Autumn three stars, and Winter and Spring both got four, so five here seems fair, and reflects how the series has grown on me as I’ve traversed it.

When I read Autumn a few months back I commented that the 2016ness of it already seemed a bit dated. The 2020ness of this will no doubt age the same way, but being closer to that I don’t see it as much. What the 2020ness of this book does do is mean that the books don’t form a cycle. The seasons repeat but the world does move on, we find new crises and new hopes.

Now what I really want is to find somewhere that someone has detailed all the connections between the different threads of the stories, I picked up plenty but am equally sure I missed a lot. I think the books would merit a re-read, though I also don’t think I’m very likely to re-read them anytime soon.