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meganbmooreAfter the events of the first book, Aeriel and Irrylath return to his homeland, where he’s reunited with his mother and meets his six younger half-brothers. You’d think Irrylath would be happy about this, but he’s busy moping. It’s a good thing I’m not reading for either him or the romance. I think his father’s genetics are a bad influence on him, as his mother and younger brothers all seem pretty cool.
While Irrylath is moping, Aeriel is busy trying to put together the pieces of Ravenna’s riddle so she can beat the White Witch, and realizes that Irrylath and his brothers are the seven warriors meant to go against the white witch, and that Ravenna’s lons are the steeds they’re meant to ride. Except that six of the lons are missing, so off she goes to find them.
I liked the first book a lot, but I really, really liked this one. I really like the quest aspect that’s been in all of Pierce’s books so far, and how chunks of them feel like myth-building travelogues. If possible, the second book in the trilogy had even more bits of various myths I can’t quite pin down the origins of, and it makes me really wish I knew more about the significance of numbers in mythologies, as there are a lot of significant numbers here(24, 7, 13, 6, and 14 are the ones that come up the most) that seem to have a significance beyond the one I’m catching.
Then there’re the supporting characters. The gargoyles and the talking animals and the blue juggler and her silent boyfriend and Erin, the slave girl who becomes Aeriel’s traveling companion, and Roshka, the prince who joins them and all these others I feel like I’m forgetting. The revelation of what happened to the lons, as well as that of Airiel’s origins, were pretty obvious early on, but I don’t care because there’s all the mythology and the month long days and the wraiths and the sea of sand…as you can tell, I really to like this world and mytharc. The only problem is Irrylath. Even the characters who only show up for a bit are interesting and well developed, but Irrylath is really just there and now too wrapped up in his own issues, and I remain completely unsold on the romance. I did like the revelation that he’d been looking for Aeriel all the months she was looking for the lons, as well as his finally explaining why he’s so cold to her, but neither really goes very far. Really, I can’t help but wonder if Aeriel is just mistaking pity for something else.
And now, even though I suspect I may regret it, I shall bulldoze ahead and read the third book.
While Irrylath is moping, Aeriel is busy trying to put together the pieces of Ravenna’s riddle so she can beat the White Witch, and realizes that Irrylath and his brothers are the seven warriors meant to go against the white witch, and that Ravenna’s lons are the steeds they’re meant to ride. Except that six of the lons are missing, so off she goes to find them.
I liked the first book a lot, but I really, really liked this one. I really like the quest aspect that’s been in all of Pierce’s books so far, and how chunks of them feel like myth-building travelogues. If possible, the second book in the trilogy had even more bits of various myths I can’t quite pin down the origins of, and it makes me really wish I knew more about the significance of numbers in mythologies, as there are a lot of significant numbers here(24, 7, 13, 6, and 14 are the ones that come up the most) that seem to have a significance beyond the one I’m catching.
Then there’re the supporting characters. The gargoyles and the talking animals and the blue juggler and her silent boyfriend and Erin, the slave girl who becomes Aeriel’s traveling companion, and Roshka, the prince who joins them and all these others I feel like I’m forgetting. The revelation of what happened to the lons, as well as that of Airiel’s origins, were pretty obvious early on, but I don’t care because there’s all the mythology and the month long days and the wraiths and the sea of sand…as you can tell, I really to like this world and mytharc. The only problem is Irrylath. Even the characters who only show up for a bit are interesting and well developed, but Irrylath is really just there and now too wrapped up in his own issues, and I remain completely unsold on the romance. I did like the revelation that he’d been looking for Aeriel all the months she was looking for the lons, as well as his finally explaining why he’s so cold to her, but neither really goes very far. Really, I can’t help but wonder if Aeriel is just mistaking pity for something else.
And now, even though I suspect I may regret it, I shall bulldoze ahead and read the third book.