The Named return once more to face yet another trial in this book! Spoilers ahead!
Sometime after book three, Ratha and her clan encounter a group of mammoth-hunting Unnamed felines who seem to constantly be in a daze, going through their lives like this while listening to a form of hivemind called "the song" which is emanated through their leader, True-of Voice. Ratha now has to decide whether or not these hunters are a threat to her, all the while also still having to truly mend her relationship with her daughter.
For the most part this was a really good book, but it definitely had some things pulling itself down. Let's get the negatives out of the way first, starting with the pacing. This book, due to the lack of intense conflict, honestly felt just a bit dragged out. There's so much arguing and conversations between Ratha, Thakur and Thistle about whether or not they'll decide to attack the hunters.
The conversations always go the same way, too, with Ratha desiring to strike against them using the Red Tongue but Thakur pleading for more time and Thistle begging not to strike at all. This gave the book a bit of a repetitive edge. I definitely liked the conflict going on in this book, with this completely alien concept in the series, but it really needed to be a bit shorter and more fast-paced if they wanted to keep the reader consistently engaged. It just felt a bit boring at times.
I also don't quite like how Fessran and Mishanti are pretty much being written out of the book. They appear briefly at the start but barely after that, which is a shame because Fessran has been an interesting tritagonist and ally of Ratha's so far, and Mishanti was a huge deal in book three, only for him to be nearly completely forgotten about in the next book. I wanted to see him interact with his adoptive mother, Thistle, and to a lesser extent Fessran. I wanted to see him develop because the will-they-won't-they develop is a huge deal regarding the Unnamed such as Mishanti.
But he gets completely shoved aside in favor of this different plot. I get that maybe it'd give us too many characters, but at the same time it might also give us more intrigue in what he'll grow up to be like: sapient or not, which could've solved some of the boring-ness issues I've mentioned above. Replace some of the dialogues between Ratha, Thakur and Thistle with Mishanti scenes. I don't even need many of them, but just some of them to give us an update on how he's growing up and what his bond to his caretakers is like.
That said, let's get to more positives. First of all, the song. I genuinely just don't understand what it's supposed to be. It's somewhat of a hivemind controlling the hunters through True-of-voice that's implied to come from the deceased descendants of the hunters before, but it's just so difficult to wrap your head around. The Named series so far has been rather realistic, sans the talking sapient felines using tools. Yes, they are anthropomorphized, but things are still set in a world that feels believable. They don't magically have opposable thumbs to use for their tools, they use treelings for that. They still have typical feline behaviors and instincts.
But then there's the song, which is completely right out of nowhere something supernatural. I'm not complaining, I'm definitely very engaged by the concept, but it just feels tonally a bit different from everything we've had until now. It's never truly explained what exactly the song is and how it works. Like where is the line drawn between the hunters being able to preceive what lies outside of them and where does it stop. It's all very interesting and I love the concept, but just be prepared to have some questions that aren't quite answered or are hard to wrap your head around because the concept is simply so alien.
Then there's Thistle. Still my favorite character, but I also like how her relationship to Ratha isn't instantly all good after making up with her in book three. Bell could've easily have chosen to have Thistle's traumatic flashback fits subside just by making up with Ratha, but she chose to go the more believable route of having the relationship between Ratha and Thistle be somewhat strained, and Thistle still isn't over the Dreambiter. In fact, her learning to cope with her trauma is a very big part in what'll allow her to communicate with the hunters. And who is the only one who can help her cope with her trauma? Ratha. So this way both mother and daughter grow closer and learn to accept that parts of them that aren't as great, and the plot is furthered this way. It's great to finally see Ratha give in and become a more motherly cat to Thistle.
I did also spot some typos in this book, which isn't a plus, obviously.
So, yeah, it definitely has a lot of positives, but what really drew me back from giving this five stars is the lack of interesting conflict and amount of repetition. Otherwise, it's a really solid book.
Rating: 4/5
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