Stop. If you have not read Range of Ghosts, preferably in the last year, then you're really going to be confused for the first quarter of this book. It does all sort out so that you don't have to have read the first on, but c'mon, it's great, you want to anyway.
Ok, that said: What an excellent second book. Unlike many middle books in a trilogy, this one is fast-paced, compelling, and full of character development. At no time did I feel like we were just marking time until the climax. It is just that there is too much story to fit in one or two books.
If the first book was about the formation of the Fellowship of the Oddballs, (warrior, wizard, priest, tiger), this one is about figuring out what you want to accomplish with your life besides pure survival. Temur has to decide not to be a refugee, but rather a king-in-exile. Edene becomes a ruler in her own right. Samarkar finds a direction to harness her power toward. It's a wild tapestry with a ton of threads to follow, but unlike a Tom Clancy book, everyone has their own motivations and voice, so it is much easier to keep clear what is going on. Being a middle book, of course, there is a lot of wrapping-up to be accomplished in the next book, but I will be right at the front of the virtual release line.
As usual for a book by Bear, the language is amazing and evocative. There is as description of the smell of water that made me thirsty. And the trenchant voice of the characters, such as Samarkar thinking, "She comforted herself that no matter how far she traveled, no matter how changed her role, she was still and always would be a scandal." There are worse things to aspire to than being a permanently scandalous woman. Or Hrahima saying, "I don't believe in God. She drops by once in a while and we argue about it."
Read if: You are looking for not-another-swords-and-Arthur fantasy. You like books about adults, who sometimes have to make decisions about least-bad options. You want a world-sweeping fantasy where travel is actually time-consuming and problematic.
Skip if: You can't read about plague, bugs, liches, or women in control of their sexuality.
Also read: This. Well, buy the first one, Range of Ghosts and read it. But you should buy this one now, to encourage the publisher.
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Nothing to write home about
This is the second book in the trilogy. I read the first book and was not impressed. Due to my own laziness (I couldn't be bothered to find something better to read), I read the remaining books in the series. I'm not exactly sorry I did, but I'm not that happy about it either.This book has many of the same problems the first book did. Too many characters. Too confusing names. Too many differences between the book Mongolia and the real Mongolia and for no apparent reason. Switches between POVs is too frequent and there are too many POVs.A new thing I did not like was the character development of the horse. I wanted it to stay a horse. A great horse, but still a horse. Also liver bay is not a color. Bay is defined by being red. It is little things like that that add up. There is no reason for this aberration. It adds nothing to the story but is distracting to those who know about horses. The same thing is true of her description of Mongolia and Mongols. Why does she call their gers "white houses" instead of just calling them gers? Or even yerts. That is not what the Mongols call them but it is a standard term for these "tents." I am including a photo of modern Mongolia. It is about the most beautiful place in the world...in the summer.The development of the wizards and their academy is interesting. And more of the sky stuff is fun.At the end of the book I cursed myself for my laziness but went on to read the last of the trilogy.
Top reviews from other countries
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- A. WhiteheadReviewed in the United Kingdom on June 15, 2013
A worthwhile successor to Range of Ghosts
- LarissaAReviewed in the United Kingdom on May 16, 2021
incredible book- but not for all
