This trilogy couldn't be any more different from Ramsey's highluy literate and measured prose in the Daoloth trilogy. This is action movie horror story telling. Fast paced and no frills.
The second book ended on a cliffhanger - several cliffhangers really - and this picks things up directly from those events. One puzzle he left the second book on is immediately - nnd somewhat annoyingly- discarded. It's clear he's realised that he set an impossible task for that particular set of characters and deals with it by making a blink and you miss it statement about why they chose not to do what they were aiming to do.
If you've read the previous entries about this trilogy, you'll know the basic storyline. Even if you haven't, you can guess what it might be. The killer spiders have unleashed a third wave on humanity. This time, it could mean the end. However, our intrepid heroes have been learning over the previous two books and may well have a way of fighting back.
Throw in a military coup against the president when she refuses to nuke everything west of New York, a lot more spider carnage than in book two and the scene is set for an exciting conclusion.
The pace barely slacks in this volume. We have the same cinematic cutting between disparate groups of characters as was a feature of the previous two, the same glossy action over believability that makes this whole series a somewhat guilty pleasure, and plenty of shreddies who serve no purpose other than to be eaten.
There are some annoying loose ends. Why are certain characters apparently immune to being attacked by the spiders? Is it simply to have placeholder characters in specific locations so he can keep popping back to see how things are going? No explanation is ever hinted at. They've not been implanted, they just walk through swarms unharmed for no reason.
What was the purpose of the family on the Scottish island? They witnessed one spider attack from a safe distance in book 1, made a phone call in book 2, and did nothing in book 3. They could have been excised entirely from the story without any plot or emotional impact. They were never in danger, and they never interacted with the main cast.
Those criticisms aside, when the action ramped into top gear near the end, it was genuinely exciting. I was cringing in a good way at some of the action sequences. The descriptions of the spiders crawling over the heroes was enough to make my skin crawl. When I thought one of the leads was about to die. I was actually really upset.
If you're looking for a no brainer series of books, something to entertain without being too challenging, this is a damned good choice. They're not perfect, but I know I overanalyse at times. Stay away from that and you'll have a ball with these books.
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