I was quite surprised at the quality of the 2nd Wraeththu trilogy. Shades of Time & Memory is more like a sequel, it fills in a lot of gaps in the original trilogy. But the next two books take off in a slightly different direction, more epic - exploring the nature & the mysteries of the world.

Although I'm starting to feel like Ponclast is the Ben Linus (Lost) of Wraeththu. Should have been killed many times over but nobody has the will or ability to do it. Now that I'm reading The Ghosts of Blood and Innocence I can see why he was needed to advance the story. Also, I have long felt that Cal is the best rogue character ever written. I have some misgivings about him being somewhat tamed (cured).

Overall though, I love these books. The new direction does make the scope more epic, and I can't wait to reach the conclusion of the third history. I'm sure I'll have more to say about it at that point.