Byx's journey continues. Spoilers ahead.
Now having information that there might be another colony of dairnes out there, which would mean Byx no longer would be the last of her kind, she and her friends set out on a perilous journey to find it. Meanwhile, trouble is stirring as an upcoming war seems to be drawing nearer and nearer. In the end, Khara decides to make it her duty to unite various allies in order to prevent the war, while Byx and a few others set out on their own to find the last dairnes.
Overall another strong installment in the series. I'm not sure if i liked it quite as much as the first, but this one was nonetheless still very good.
Honestly, I think that the main reason I'm not super into this one is because it's a lot more building up of the war and a lot less Byx looking for her kind. And I know the two are connected, but I just genuinely really want Byx to find her own and I'm just...less interested in this generic fantasy war stuff.
The whole emotional core of book one was Byx feeling so lonely and hopeless and eventually coming to terms with that her friends may not be able to replace the rest of her kind, but they are a family nonetheless. Now in this book, her focus is to find the remaining dairne, but it's just so overshadowed by the war plot with these constant plot-diversions that have to do with it. At first I was okay with it but it eventually started to get old.
I did like Byx's arc of going from being a runt to growing to be a true leader much in the vein of Khara, and seeing them both getting to rise to power and grow comfortable with being a leader was satisfying. I also liked it when Byx did finally meet the other dairne. But I just feel less interested in the whole war stuff which I'm afraid will take up most of book three. Byx has united with her own kind now, both she and Khara have their allies, so I guess the next book will be the showdown between their forces and those of the Kazar and the Murdano.
That said, there still is a lot of good stuff here. I've brought up Byx's journey and getting to see other dairne, as well as her and Khara's development, but I also just liked getting to see certain settings such as the abandoned dairne island, a bit of the terramants and the dairne fishing village. I also liked seeing more of our favorite characters such as Gambler and Tobble, and Sabito quickly grew on me as well. As for Renzo and Luca...I still don't really like either character. Renzo is fine but I don't find him very interesting. Luca gets a last-minute redemption arc here before dying, but it's too rushed for me to really care, especially considering the trick he pulled in book one.
Overall this is absolutely not a bad book despite the slightly negative review. I still really liked it, don't get me wrong. It's just that this war they're building up feels too standard and a bit uninteresting to me. I was way more invested in our main character's quest to find the other dairne, and now that she's done that I do anticipate book three being about this war I'm not into. But, that said, I won't judge said book before I've read it. Maybe it'll be really book and change my stance on the war they're building up. But so far it just didn't exactly hook me.
Rating: 3.5/5
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