It's time to return to the world of the Named! I liked the first book okay, it was definitely decent and the good did outweigh the bad. It just failed to really get me that invested in the story. Will the sequel change that? Let's find out. Spoilers ahead.
Some time has passed since Ratha has introduced the Red Tongue to the clan of the Named and became their leader. Tensions seem to be growing between the Firekeepers and herders, and the arrival of a new member of the clan called Shongshar proves to be more than Ratha and her closest supporters can handle. Will she keep her title as clan leader, or will Shongshar and his deep understanding of the power of fire overthrow her?
This was what I wanted when I got into this series. An epic, deeply engaging look into the culture of these clan cats. It just really kept me engaged constantly and I never wanted to stop reading. Where to begin?
Let's start with the characters, then. Ratha is still a great protagonist. Flawed and she definitely needs the advice of Thakur, but she's feels real. I like her a lot. Fessran went through and unexpected development in this book. Yes, she was vocal in her opinions in Ratha's Creature, but here she really starts asserting her dominance over the herders and other Firekeepers, eventually basically becoming Shongshar's partner in crime. But she eventually sees the light and returns to her former loyalties, which was just allround great to see. I also liked Bira, though her character wasn't that developed. Thakur also greatly improved in this book for me. He's still far form my favorite, but I liked getting to read from his POV, and seeing how he voluntarily exciles himself each mating season. It was also interesting to see him introduce the concept of pets to the clan. They have herdbeasts, yes, but those really only serve as food and nothing else. Thakur manages to develop a deep relationship with a treeling (lemur) called Aree, which was just really enjoyable.
Then there's the villain, Shongshar, who has to be one of my absolute favorite villains. He starts out interesting enough. He's a young, sentient Unnamed capable of speech who ends up joining the clan under Ratha's leadership. He definitely has a threatening presence, with him looking much more like a sabertooth than the usual Named cats. But he does good things and proves his loyalty by taking an oath and saving a young cub. Then, after he has his own cubs which turn out to be witless, they have to be sent away. This seems to break Shongshar, since after that he starts to subtly use the clans fear and awe for the fire in a way that gives him more and more power, eventually rendering Ratha practically without any support in her own clan.
This was just so interesting to see. Not a villain who was outright evil and obvious about their plans, but rather one who worked subtly and didn't show his true colors until he had already won. Shongshar just went through such an interesting development and while you could tell that he'd be the villain from the start, you still do see that he has some better sides to him, too. He genuinely loved his cubs the way they were, he saved lives, he truly did understand fire but ended up using its powers for evil. He's just an amazing villain. If I could complain about one thing regarding him, it'd be his death. It was a bit unmemorable and was over pretty soon. I'd rather have seen him die in an iconic way, since he's such an iconic character.
Okay, enough about the characters. What else? Well, it's great to see consequences of Ratha's actions, both good and bad. She's a young and inexperienced leader, so it totally made sense for her to slip up and make unwise decisions or not foresee the consequences of them. But she does face them here. The fear and awe for fire has an effect on the clan that Ratha can't quite comprehend, and her failing to do so is what allows Shongshar to eventually take charge. It's just amazing to see these things that seemed like such a great change in book one be explored thoroughly.
This book once more deals with more mature topics, not just mentions of mating (nothing explicit, but it's mentioned sometimes) but also the almost cult-like environment Shongshar creates. I really like that these is exploring more mature topics such as these while still not going overboard with how dark things get. They just feel more mature than most animal POV books I've read.
I guess one thing I can say that I don't hold against the book but does stand out is that this one doesn't follow the same title standards as the others do. All books have Ratha's name somewhere in the title, but this is the only outlier that doesn't. Maybe Clare Bell didn't foresee that she'd have more books after book two, I don't know. It's not a complaint, just something that stands out.
So, yeah, needless to say this was a huge step up from book one. It had much more of a plot going on, the characters were allround better and it just really took major leaps in keeping the reader engaged. Book one felt more like a string of events in Ratha's life prior to introducing fire to the clan, whereas this felt like a legit plot where she has to overcome the differences between the herders and the Firekeepers, only to end up in way too deep when it already is too late.
Whether this really is the best book of the series or not remains to be seen, but it's at the very least a major improvement over the first book.
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