The 700+ pages of this book contain all the makings of a fantastic story. Daring adventures, intrigue, romance and excitement all mixed together with some great characters. The problem is, the good parts only take up about 350 pages. The remaining 350 are full of whining, self-indulgence, repetitive meanderings and other material that just screamed for editing.

I know I’m having an unusually strong reaction to this book. You’re probably wondering why I didn’t just call it quits instead of struggling for almost a whole week with this book (unheard of for me). The problem was that this book really had some excellent material. I wanted to know what was going to happen to these characters, how the story was going to work itself out. I just hated having to plough through all the sludge to get to the story.

I’m sorry to say this duology does not redeem itself in the second volume, as far as I’m concerned. Despite the bright spots, I can’t recommend it. ( )

This second novel is a deeper, darker turn into this fantasy adventure world. Friendships and relationships are tested, more good characters die, but the ending seems to be pretty good; maybe another book to look at Lur and old Dorana a few hundred years later. ( )

The review on the back says it's a stunning conclusion. I disagree - the good guys largely win, the bad guys get beaten, and whilst there are some deaths en route, this isn't enough to make it "stunning" in my opinion.

However, it is basically a good solid conclusion. There are twists and turns. There are places where you think the bad guys are going to win after all, and some of them occur in the last 50 pages.

There are nice conflicts that arise out of the characters as well as arising out of the plots, and all in all it is quite deftly handled.

Why only 4 stars then? Because too many stereotypes come through, you can probably guess who the characters that will die are without reading the book. Like a tragedy you can see the inevitable consequences of the characters' choices more clearly than they can, but they don't all get to pay the proper price that they would in a tragedy. It's side-steps the payment for the story form, and that's a shame because it could have made it truly stunning. ( )

Review on my blog - MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS ( )

This book follows in the style of it's companion, that makes you both want to keep reading, and to skip parts.
Yet, I can safely say that as the climax nears it becomes much more fast-paced and gripping. One word of caution though: I found the true climax rushed. What could, nay should, have had a sizeable chapter, was instead over in a few pages. Thus it felt like more of an anti-climax than a climax. ( )