This is the second book in Friedman’s Magister series. This has been an amazing fantasy series and is a very good classic fantasy read!

I listened to this on audiobook and the audiobook was very well done. In fact if I weren’t listening to this on audiobook I probably wouldn’t be continuing on with the series. Rodgers just does such an amazing job narrating the story.

Kamala is reeling after events in the first book and is trying to find a way to gain knowledge that she can use as leverage against the rest of the Magisters. She decides to journey towards the Wrath (a magical barrier that separates the North from the rest of the world) and try to learn its secrets. Many secrets are revealed about the Wrath and the Soul Eaters that dwell to the North.

This story switches POV a ton throughout the book and a lot more characters are added to the story. However, I never had trouble following it. Friedman is also not at all afraid of eliminating major characters as a course of the story and adding in new ones.

The Soul Eaters and their companions make the Magisters seem like heroes in this book. I continue to enjoy the good vs evil themes and all the magic and the way life-force is needed to make magic function. I am incredibly curious to see how things wrap up in the third book; this story has been very intriguing and very hard to predict.

Friedman’s writing style is very “classic” fantasy and reminds me a lot of books I read that came out in the 80’s and 90’s. I have been enjoying the nostalgic feel that reading this series gives me!

Overall this has been an incredible fantasy series. I love the complex world, interesting magic system, entangled plot, and the unpredictability of it all. The characters are well done and the world building is epic. I would highly recommend to those who enjoy epic fantasy with a classic feel to it. ( )

Review
The story picks up right where we left off. Kamala is on the run after killing Raven. Siderea is contemplating the mysterious offer of immortality from a stranger. Colivar and Ramirus are trying to figure out who and what Kamala is. Queen Gwynofar is mourning the death of her son and husband while trying to figure out the direction for her country.

After discovering and battling a Souleater in the southern kingdoms, Kamala heads up to the northern lands to investigate the Wrath. Along the way she runs into Rhys, Gwynofar’s half brother and Guardian of the Wrath. At first Kamala watches the Guardian from a distance, but as he falls victim to a trap she steps in to rescue him. After freeing themselves from the Alkali stronghold, they travel to a nearby Spear, one of the focal points for the Wrath barrier. Shockingly, the Spear has been broken open, exposing bones and writing that had been hidden for centuries.

After some initial wavering, Siderea’s anger at the Magisters gets the better of her and she turns to Amalik, the mysterious stranger who approached her at the end of the last book, for salvation. As it turns out, the source of this secret power is the result of bonding with a Souleater. Amalik had tried to bond a female Souleater to others but with disastrous results. Finally Amalik and his riders came to the conclusion that a queen among the Souleaters might only bind to a queen among humankind. Siderea is successful in bonding with the queen, and she finds herself sustained by the creatures power.

Gwynofar reaches out to her second son, Salvator, who had left his home to become a Penitent priest, asking him to return and take up the crown. After some contemplation, Salvator agrees to lay off his pious robes and take up the leadership of a nation. Although he is no longer a priest, Salvator’s faith sustains him and guides his decisions. Unfortunately, his faith and that of his mother’s often clash, which causes some mild conflict.

Rhys and Kamala return to Gwynofar with the information of what is inside a Spear, and markings written in another language. The Magisters Colivar and Ramirus help to translate the information, which turns out to be a prophecy, directing a chosen person who balances the bloodlines to sit upon the Throne of Tears. As it turns out, Gwynofar happens to have bloodline connections to all seven lyr nations.

Kamala, Rhys, and Gwynofar mount a strike team back into Alkali where the Throne of Tears is located. After a heroic battle, Gwynofar makes her way to the Throne. After sitting upon it, she cuts herself and bleeds onto the arms of the chair, into the carved patterns…and she is enveloped in a vision. The vision connects her to all the lyr as they are all caught up in it. Though most only get snatches here and there, Gwynofar learns the history of the Spears, how they came into being and the truths of the sacrifices that were used to create them.

Overall, I enjoyed this book more than the first one. I liked the increased view point characters, and the greater focus on Gwynofar and Siderea. The female characters are so diverse! And since it focused less on Kamala’s past and the connection to her consort whose life she was stealing in order to survive, I wasn’t left feeling the same iffiness I had at the end of Feast of Souls.

Also there were so many story lines! I didn’t really realize this as I was reading it, which is probably a good thing, but to summarize…let’s just say I left out a LOT. Oof.

On to book three in the series! ( )

The second book in a trilogy Wings Of Wrath brings back characters such as witch Kamala who makes a connection with magister Rhys. Many other characters such as Rhys half sister Queen Gwynofar. There is political intrigue, war, a little romance, magic and evil supernatural beings.

I read this not knowing it was second book in a trilogy so the characters were unfamiliar to me. I began to like the characters Kamala and Rhys together although not liking how it ended up. It took awhile to warm up to Queen Gwynofar and of course there was the evil queen you love to hate.

I think reading this first may have affected my thoughts on the Wings Of Wrath because it took reading more then half way through to connect with anyone or anything in the book. I wished that there was some cheerful moments in the book and there really wasn’t. There wasn’t a recap of the first book that some series do.

I would say that reading this did not make want to read the rest of the series or go back and read the start. ( )

Jan12:

Characters: The magisters were all stellar. The other characters were meh. Luckily, it was mostly about the magisters.

Plot: Not much big movement. But it's the middle book. Does play along nicely.

Style: Very well done. Actually slightly more romance-y than I expect for Friedman. ( )

This is a great follow up to Feast of Souls. We continue along with Kamala and the rest as we learn more about the Souleaters and what is happening to the world. By the end of the book, the stage is well set and we're ready for the final act. Write faster Ms. Friedman! ( )