I felt that Scholes did a good job conveying exactly how profoundly the losses suffered affected the world, despite only brief glimpses of the city of Windwir as it was before its destruction. The offscreen deaths of Rudolfo's family were engineered to similar effect.

I do have one complaint though. Rudolfo spent so much effort in preserving and restoring the lost library of the Androfrancines. He seems to hold knowledge as the highest currency, and yet he stands passively while Li Tam destroys the entire family history! Did anyone else think that these two actions were contradictory? Any thoughts on why he did this? Was it merely someone shocked to find that his whole life, and years of suffering and heartache were engineered by someone he thought was an ally?