This is the second book that I have read from Morgan Rice, and I liked it more than I like the first one. This book didn’t seem to jump around as much as the first did, and while there were still multiple storylines occurring at the same time, it was nice to see that they were all converging on the same place and we could tell that soon all of the different storylines would be directly impacting each other.
Synopsis – *Contains Spoilers*
Throughout the book, we follow Kyra as she makes her way south to the Tower of Ur where she will learn who she is, and what kind of power she has. It is here where she will learn how to use her power so that she can be an asset in the upcoming war. As she travels south, she comes across many things that try to kill her, but it is through her determination as well as team work with those she is traveling with that allow her to stay alive.
Several times she has to make the decision of whether she wants to do the easy thing and not make a confrontation, or if she wants to do what it right. When she comes to a wagon full of girls who have all been captured to be brought to the king, she remembers what it was like when she was captured, and knows that she can’t allow the other girls to experience the same kind of pain that she did. Then she takes on the Pandesian guards and frees the girls before they continue riding south.
Her father, Duncan, knows that he must lead his men south now that the rebellion against the Pandesians has begun. They will only be able to gain their freedom from their oppressive overlords if they band the peoples of the land together to fight as one as they used to. Their first battle is at the coastal town of Escalon. Here they make a big statement against Pandesia by killing their soldiers and burning their fleet that was in the harbor.
Despite the fact that they were exhausted, they knew that they needed to continue on their journey if they wanted to have a chance of gathering a large enough army to overthrow the Pandesians. South they go to the mountain people of Kos. On their way they come across many different creatures that try to kill them. These include giant sharks, river monsters, ice bats, etc. Though we see men dying left and right, we see the trust that these men have in their leader because they are willing to continue to follow him even when things get rough.
These are the two main storylines that occur throughout the book, but we also follow Merk, a trained assassin who is trying to change his life for the better. He is on a journey to the Tower of Ur, the same tower that Kyra is trying to go to. He wants to become a guard at the tower and devote his life to something bigger than himself. On his way, he must face his past when a young girl begs him to come to his rescue. He knows that he has tried to put his violent ways behind him, so he tells her that he won’t help her. It is only after he has wrestled with these thoughts that he knows that he must help her, but by then it is too late.
After this, he continues on his way to the Tower of Ur, hoping that this will give him the fresh restart that he so desperately needs in his life.
The fourth storyline follows Alec and Marco as they travel southward away from the flames where they had been sentenced to serve as guards without training or proper weapons. In fear they ran away and had to live life in the woods always looking over their shoulders and hoping that no one was following them. Things were worse than they thought because when they make it back to the village, they realize that the entire village has been burned and the inhabitants killed in retribution for them running away from their duties. This helps to intensify the evil that is the nation of Pandesia.
Review
Overall, I enjoyed this book. Having already read the first book of the series, I found that this book was more enjoyable. After the first book, I was able to get a better grasp of how the different storylines worked with each other and it took less of a jump for me to be able to jump from one story line to the other. I found this book much more enjoyable than the other.
On the other hand, some of the battle scenes are difficult to imagine, and our heroes have extraordinarily good luck. When facing monsters of various kinds, Duncan manages always to survive despite the fact that his men are dying left and right from things they can’t see and can’t fight. It was times like these as well as when Kyra was going against the Pandesians and was taking them on 2 – 10 and they still came out victorious. At times it was difficult to believe the success that our heroes had due to the odds against them, but still it made for an exciting story.
If you liked the first book in the series, then I would recommend this book to you. I found that it was much easier to read than the first book. Like the first book, this isn’t a difficult read, and would be appropriate for teens. There are a few topics that are a bit heavy including death and girls being used as items of conquest, but overall, this would be a good book to read.