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| Kindle // Duology // Autumn Write Blog |
Five hundred years after the Empire she served fell before the Ibisian invasion, Medair has betrayed her Emperor's memory by helping the descendants of the invaders. She knows she will be reviled, that to thousands she is hero-become-villain. Her one goal is to return to the hidden cave where she slept out of time, and hope that she wakes in a world where the name Medair an Rynstar has been forgotten.
Assassins, armies, and desperate magic complicate Medair's plan of escape, leading her inexorably to face the very people her choice has cost the most. She has learned that you can never to return to your past, or run from the consequences of your actions, but can she find a way to live in defeat?
First off, I want to say that the attack on Medair in the first chapter I fully expected to happen in the first book. I was more or less predicting the person would strike out against her, for the reasons that Medair concludes (much later in the book) and was only marginally surprised by it. Well mostly that it was so sloppily handled considering the source, I really expected more from an assassination attempt orchestrated by that person.
I think that I enjoyed the book a bit less than the first one. Maybe because I read them back to back in rapid succession, a lot of the fears, doubts and insecurities Medair felt seemed to be the same as in the first book. Medair didn't really GROW in the first book--not as a person at least. She still held onto to the same fears, the same prejudices and same reactions when she didn't want to face the truth.
And quite frankly she spends a decent portion of the second book repeating those mistakes, even as she's rationalizing how ridiculous her arguments seem in the light of day. The book however had Princess Sendel and she was freaking awesome. She was a good counterpoise to some of the other characters--her life was pretty rotten by the time we meet her, but she doesn't let that steamroll her. She quickly understands the situation, the best route of action, and how to make it all happen as quickly as feasible to save the most lives. I really was hoping Medair was taking notes on how to react in a crisis situation from her because she really could have used that wisdom earlier.
Things go from bad to really bad emotionally and otherwise for Medair and her new (reluctant as she is to call them as such) friends. Wild Magic flares up again with...interesting results. Now not only Medair is stuck in a world she doesn't really fit in, but an entire city and the effects are not particularly encouraging at first. I wanted this to be explored a little more--the subtle shifts that turned a lot of people's lives inside out because of one man's insane wish. Even though its frequently referred back to and examined, its not really explained. What exactly changed that made the 'new' reality so different yet very similar? Why were some memories tweaked just a little, while others were shifted a lot?
Medair and Ilukar reach something close to an understanding after a lot of trial, error and earnestness. On the one hand I could understand why Medair was so reluctant to admit to anything--Ilukar is the closest she'd get to the 'White Snakes' of her time (being purebred) yet she spends an equal amount of time justifying that they are not the same. Even after a surprising visit while hanging around tombs, Medair finds it hard to have the two warring emotions co-exist within her.
The eventual resolution was...okay. I guess form Ilukar's perspective it is what it is, and he's fairly pragmatic about most things, but despite her confessions and why she ran from Isekar to hunt the Horn, I found it hard to reconcile that it would all work out. I wasn't convinced that Medair had moved past the anxiety and guilt she constantly felt. I would have liked that portion of the story to have a bit more time to grow, instead of the last chapter or so of the book.
