So I was lukewarm on book one, but really loved book two. How does book three hold up? Let's find out. Spoilers ahead.
In this book we follow Thakur and Ratha as they struggle to cope with the heat and drought that is plaguing their lands. In order to find a more suitable land for the clan and their herds to inhabit, they travel towards the sea, where Thakur ends up meeting Thistle-chaser, Ratha's long lost Unnamed daughter, who now has a lame leg due to her mother injuring her. In the end, mother and daughter end up facing one another in a battle at the sea.
Remember what I said in my Clan Ground review, how things in book one do have consequences and aren't just forgotten about? Yeah, it happens again. I really didn't expect Thistle-chaser to show back up after book one, but surprise surprise, here she is.
And what a great character she is. I've mentioned before that I really liked Ratha as a protagonist, but Thistle-chaser (or Newt, as she calls herself) is honestly my favorite character out of the entire series. I relate a lot to her in how she's seen as different and has PTSD. She's a very rounded character and also offers us a first look at an seemingly non-sapient Unnamed slowly coming out of her shell to reveal that they might be able to develop speech and sentience after all. Thakur's patience allows for Thistle-chaser to finally find her "humanity" and become less animal-like, but she still remains unique in her own way. I just really liked that.
The other characters are also still great. I still like Ratha, and I'm glad she had to face what she had done to Thistle-chaser as a cub. Thakur was okay, I particularly liked his moments with Thistle-chaser. And Fessran... does some not-so-loyal things in this book, but it makes sense for her. She's very determined to follow her own path, after all.
She ends up adopting an Unnamed cub called Mishanti, the grandson of Shongshar. While Mishanti shows no signs of sapience in this book, when Ratha and the others see how Thistle-chaser was able to develop her sentience after already becoming an adult, they decide to give him a chance and let Thistle-chaser look after him. They're rather similar, after all.
The one thing I didn't really like that much in this book was the climax. Yes, it was unique and exciting, but it just felt a tad wrong to vilify the mentally ill neurodivergent-coded character like this. Thistle-chaser, after another one of her fits, decides to just outright kill Ratha. She ultimately fails after she realizes she injured Mishanti in the process, making her what she fears the most; an adult scarring a cub. It has a happy ending, but I just felt a bit uncomfortable during the climax. Also, while this is an older book, Thistle-chaser is indeed referred to by the c-slur a couple of times. That wasn't very comfortable to read, either.
Still, this is overall a very good book with great characters and moments. I really look forward to seeing what happens to Thistle-chaser and Mishanti in the next book. I also wonder how Ratha's bond with Thistle-chaser will be now that they are somewhat reunited. I feel like it might be a bit awkward due to the past events.
Rating: 4/5
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