Last of the Wilds

The second book in a trilogy, which I prefer over the first. This book is tough to review without giving major plot points away. Where the first book appeared to deal with a direct story of good vs evil, the second book has more layers, complicating the plot in excellent ways, making the reader ask the same questions as many characters come to debate. I often reserve 5 out of 5 scores only for books I adore and cannot stand to part with, but this book escalates the tale in book 1 to a new and more satisfying level. Whereas when I finished Book 1, I mostly delved into the second book out of curiosity, I now need to read the last of the trilogy to learn the outcome. With one or two perfect twists, I’ve enjoyed this much more than I show more expected to. An excellent blend of religion, and politics, and the dangerous quality of blind faith. show less

I enjoyed this more than the first one. The parallel stories of the Circlians and Pentadrians gives the book a nice structure and I found myself eager for the next book. I'm also losing the feeling that Age of the Five is just a more grown up version of the Black Magicians trilogy as it slowly comes into its own.

Life gets trickier for the newest Priestess, despite the peace after the war. Beset by nightmares; in constant attention to the gods; she has to rush to Si and help heal as plague breaks out. If only there was someone around whose healing skills were good enough.

Elsewhere in the continent the Pentadriens see the error of their ways and seek peaceful contact with those nations so recently invaded. Will they have better luck with the Elai than the White did?

Picking up characters from the last book and bringing to the fore some new this book continues the adventures in the Time of Five. But good and bad are no longer so clearly defined, white and black only colours not lifestyles. Gods are human too, petty and jealous emotions are within show more their remit. What will Aurya decide when she faces a test of her loyalty?

After -re-read.:
A significant improvement from the last novel, now that we're fully up to speed with the world more time can be spent on the plot and the characters. Many of the minor characters from the last novel are fleshed out, and we learn more about the different cultures in the world. At the same time we are plunged into more murky moral territory facing up to some questions of religion that society today should be considering. When is the "word of God" absolute, and what should be the penalty for disobeying, when caught between a rock and hard place?

Gripping and eventfull, detailed and enjoyable, I can't wait to see how the trilogy is resolved, and only hope the standard continues to improve.
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And again.
Really quite fun, the questioning of absolute religion is great to see and carefully handled. Some of it is still a little bit clunky at times - the Elai princess is not at all believable, but everything especially the Wilds are great. show less

I desperately want to like this series, because all the elements are there. Magic, war, unique to her world races, love affairs, Gods, etc. It just seems Canavan has no idea what to do with these elements, and the writing is just so sub par it's hard to read.
Her races all have the same mannerisms and characteristics. They have nothing unique about them other then the way they look, and yet two of the races are mostly cut off completely from the human world. Their culture and mannerisms and dialogue would not be the same. He Gods act like humans, etc. In fact every single character in the book is pretty much the same. They all react in the same way, they all speak the same way. They are all one dimensional with little to no growth. The show more main protagonist Auraya has some growth, but it happens so suddenly at the end of the book that it feels completely un realistic and out of place.
My biggest strife with this particular book was that nothing of importance happened at all until the very end fourth of the book, and even then, it was mild and lagged on. I understand that the middle book in a trilogy is typically the least action packed, but this one was just plain boring to me. It took far too long for me to finish simply because I grew bored so quickly.
I know that Canavan is a well liked author in the fantasy genre, but for the life of me based on this series, I cannot understand how. I know that this is only her second series, and it was written a long time ago, so I am hopeful that she has gotten better with time. I truly think she has good ideas and strong stories, but the writing and the piecing of those ideas together is lacking strongly so far. show less

"Last of the Wilds" is a middle book, but in many ways is stronger than its predecessor, "Priestess of the White."

In this book, the storylines for all the main character groups (the White, especially Auraya, the Pentadrians, the Wilds, the Elai and the Siyee) get more interesting. There is depth to each of the individual plots and the author sets up a complex and intriguing political scene for the third book.

The real story is what is going on with the gods and the immortals. What do the gods have against the Wilds? Where did the gods come from? What are they planning? How much of what's going on are they aware of? There's clearly a much larger story going on here than the base plot of the Circlian/Pentadrian conflict.

I'm waiting show more anxiously for the grand design to be revealed in the third book. show less

Last of the Wilds is the second book on the Age of the Five trilogy. Priestess of the White ended with the aftermath of the religious war between the Circlians and Pentadrians. The five were clearly victorious, but not without some losses.

This book is mostly about the return to normal life after the war. Alliances have been forged to gather help to fight the evil other side, but they remain strong in times of peace through commerce and cooperation. And the Pentadrians are also trying to make amends and figure out how could they have lost.

Amidst it all there is also the personal struggles of various characters: Auraya, who lost the man she loved as he was sent away because he follows a different religion, as well as having to make sense show more of what she has seen in the war; Leiard, that has to come to terms with the voice in his head, his other personality, and figure out what it means; Emerahl, who has to choose between hiding again or helping her friend...

Like the first book in the series, this one also features multiple points of view, telling the story of different characters that will, in most cases, encounter each other. Although this is usually great, helping to show the different stories, in this book it was a bit too much. The shifting points of view made me queasy - each part was very short, never giving time to "enter" the story before moving to the next one. It was really hard to connect with any of the characters, especially the new ones, at first. Eventually it got better (either the parts became longer or I got used to it) and it was easier to enjoy the story.

Auraya is still a major character, as is Leiard. Leiard I liked from the beginning, and I really enjoyed his parts, especially his inner monologue/dialogue with Mirar. Auraya is starting to grow on me, especially when she shows that she isn't just a mindless follower of the Gods and is capable of thinking for herself – by the end of the book I really wanted to know more of what is going to happen to her.

The inclusion of Reivan made me squint my eyes and say "I see what you did there!". Reivan becomes a Servant of the Gods (the Pentadrian ones), eventually becoming a councillor to one of the Voices. Telling the other side of the struggle gave a whole new depth to the story - suddenly it was harder to "hate" the Pentadrians, because they had faces and you knew their motivations. And to be honest, the Circlians were never the good guys in my eyes. Not that I'm on the Pentadrian side either. (Definitely with the Dreamweavers that don't care for any type of Gods and just want to help people regardless of what they believe.)

If in Priestess of the White there were the Siyee, as a stranger species, not like humans in appearance, but not devoid of Humanity; in Last of the Wilds we have the Elai, creatures of the sea - but not mermaids, that are even more distrustful of landwalkers than their winged counterparts. I really like to read about different races, seemingly so alien, and about their culture and their lives, and these sea folks were a treat for me.

What I liked on the first book is exactly what I liked on this one. The third side of the matter, the world-building, the different races, and the emotional struggle of the characters regarding their beliefs and their way of living. It is all there, and then some more.

Also at Spoilers and Nuts show less

This almost lost me. The ongoing story of the conflict between the Circlians and Pentadrians continues and Auraya is trying to find a balance between Dreamweavers and the priesthood. There's a mystery illness on the rise and she has to find the cure, along with issues with her love life.

This is the second Trudi Canavan series I've read and I remember having issues with the second book of the last series. I will read the last book in the sequence but this one took me ages to get through. I actually almost abandoned it because I really didn't care for a long while what happened to the characters. The story began to build momentum for me near the end and finally engaged my interest.