BAM, here we are. It has been a while since we last visited the prehistoric world of Torak, Wolf and Renn, but at long last we return. Originally this book series spanned only six books (which I have all reviewed on this blog already), however in more recent years three more extra have been published in the series. Unfortunately it looks like the recent books will not be getting a Dutch translation (since I initially collected the Dutch hardcover editions), so I'll just have to make do with the English ebooks instead. Spoilers ahead.
Torak and Renn have both aged a bit, and are now officially together. However, when Renn starts to get visions of her turning into her (rather evil) mother, she leaves Torak and the Raven Clan behind in hopes of protecting them against herself. Torak, of course, doesn't accept this and goes after here, traveling to the far north with Wolf. And a mysterious new character called Naiginn seems to play a role in all this.
Yeah, still strong. Maybe not my favorite book in the series, but it had me hooked nonetheless. I consistently didn't know where the plot was going, keeping me guessing, and I really liked traveling to the far north again. This time we even get to meet some prehistoric giants we haven't seen before in the series: mammoths.
Torak and Renn are still very strong characters, too, and I also of course do still love Wolf, who is now a fully fledged leading male of his own small pack. Unfortunately the Raven Clan and other old familiar characters don't feature much in this book (particularly Dark I was sad barely got featured, but at least he got one or two scenes), but that does give us more room to focus on our main three, as well as the newly introduced Niaginn.
As for him...he's probably the aspect of the book I liked the least, to be honest. He's not a badly written villain or anything, but I just felt he was a bit weak compared to earlier villains in the series. He's just...a demon. This time a demon that can talk, unlike the bear of the first book, but still a demon. There wasn't all that much to him, other than the admittedly pretty cool backstory that he's a fully grown Tokoroth (a rarity), but in the end it's just an irredeemable villain who just wants to destroy shit and suck out the souls of the living. He's not a bad villain, I just didn't find him all that engaging outside of the concept of him being a fully grown Tokoroth.
But the rest of the book was still very good. The world just feels real and expansive, full of myths, interesting characters and darkness. I look forward to whatever the next book brings.
Rating: 4/5
No comments:
Post a Comment