What happens after the battle is done? Do you think everyone lives happily ever after?
Lumernia has been left divided, leaderless. The ensuing power struggle cost the city more than just the knightly order, leaving the land and its people unguarded. Is the conquering army content with their prize, or do they have their sights set on more?
Celeste, Tarnelius, Arcus and Siobhan are back. After saving the land of Altierra from the threat of the ultimate evil, they expected life to return to normal and made plans to pay respects to a fallen friend. No good deed ever goes unpunished, though, and their actions have many consequences. Kuunkierto was defeated, but an ancient pact was broken and the first calls of war have sounded. Will they be able to right the wrongs of the world once more? Will they be strong enough to face what is coming?
Through the flames of war, new destinies arise.
Review Rough Draft
Review
In comparison to Destiny's Wings, this book had much more character depth and I found it to be better written. It is obvious the author is learning to improve her craft.
Unlike book 1, I was immediately drawn into the story. With the characters having already been established, it was easy to get back into everything. I had missed the characters, so I was looking forward to seeing what shenanigans they were going to get up to. The first bit between Arcus and Siobhan was so frustrating, but in a good way! Since she joined the story toward the end of Destiny's Wings, I hadn't had enough time to get to know her as much as I would have liked so I was excited to read more about her.
There are two very minor characters from the first book that become a major element for this one. The issue with that was that this story became more of a sort of romance between the two of them midway through the book, with the whole epic dragon/orc fight going on in the background as filler to their story. I was a bit put off in a few scenes and I wished the four from the previous book played a more dominant role. Especially Arcus and Siobhan, because obvious reasons.
One scene in specific really bothered me. I shan't go into detail, because spoilers, but what had happened was pure evil. I expected something of that nature to cause issue, but instead it was largely ignored. This felt strongly out of place for me knowing the party leaned towards good, despite their natural alignment of neutral. I also felt the resolution to the situation was a cop out.
Aside from the two new main characters, I enjoyed everything else with the story. The conflict between Tarnelius and his father was perhaps one of the best parts in the story. Although, I am now quite fond of the dwarf dragon, Khellendriox.
I would really like to see more to the main story in book 3. I humbly request more dragons, because that was freaking awesome! Also, I hope more characters aren't added that take away from the ones I was looking forward to getting to know more. Give me more Siobhan, dammit!
In conclusion, I liked a good chunk of the story. It was pretty great and I highly recommend this series.