: I don't want to ruin the ending, so I'll just say that
: The Silver Spike brings closure to events in the
: north, but doesn't advance the story of the Company at
: all. If, at the end of The White Rose, you're really
: curious about how things wrap up for the characters
: who stay in the north, then by all means read it. Just
: because it's the weakest installment in the series
: doesn't make it all that bad.
I'll second that.
If you want to find out what happens to Bomanz, Silent, the Limper, and the rest of the folks that remained up north with the white rose then by all means read it.
THE FOLLOWING PARAGRAPH contains NO spoilers but does have some opinions that might taint your enjoyment of the Silver Spike:
... I needed that closure so I read it. My only problem is that the ending isn't perfectly clear, the characters do things that are very incongruous, and some events happened during the climax that I thought were truly unnecessary and seemed hastily written. Cook will do this again during the end of one of the first three Glittering Stone Books: he rushed the writing of the end, BIG time.
At least he didn't do that for Soldiers Live.
-Welly
