The second book of what seems to be the final Bravelands arc. I'm sad about it coming to a close soon, but at least it was overall a good series, unlike some other Erin Hunter properties.
Let's dive in, spoilers ahead.
Whisper, convinced her little brother is still alive, leaves the buffalo herd to look for him. Stride the cheetah visits Great Mother about his mate's death, and is given a new quest by her. All the while he learns the truth about his companion Stonehide. Finally, Breathstealer gives in to the visions given to her by the Great Devourer, something not everyone around her approves of. Overall a great peril seems to be building in the Bravelands once again.
Yes, this was a pretty strong installment. It's intense, it's got plenty of mystery and intrigue, and we learn some new things about our characters. Particularly my favorite, Breathstealer, gets a lot of development here as she becomes more and more of a tool for the Great Devourer, at first unwillingly but later without much hesitation.
In the first book I did like her as a character, but I thought her gentleness (at least when compared to other hyenas) made her feel a bit like a generic protagonist when the Bravelands hyenas have such a unique culture to them that it felt like missed potential. It's almost like they heard my criticisms here, because in this book Breathstealer's entire arc is about her becoming more like the stereotypical hyena in their culture, with her becoming more assertive and aggressive, and willingly letting in the Great Devourer. This made for some very interesting character development. She is unlikable at times, but it makes her an interesting, morally gray character.
While I also like Whisper and Stride, they don't really go through big character developments in this book. Whisper has pretty much been headstrong and fighting for her brother and what's right from the start, and this book just continues that but doesn't really do much different with it. Except that she learns that she was right and Echo is still alive.
With Whisper I gotta say two books in I think she's just...not very interesting. Not just because her character is pretty static, but because in the grand scheme of things she doesn't do that much. She feels more like an observer of the buffalo herd power struggle than someone who actively partakes in it herself. Sure, she calls out Holler and his cronies multiple times, but she doesn't do all that much except going to look for Echo in these past two books.
Meanwhile, Echo feels like he should almost be the buffalo protagonist. Sure, he's a bit of a passive character (he is almost killed and has to be rescued from the lions), but at the same time he has more stakes in the buffalo subplot when he is supposed to be their new leader. Seeing things from his point of view, or maybe split between him and Whisper, sounds like a better alternative. Not that Whisper is a horrible character or anything, but she doesn't do all that much outside of calling out Holler and his gang once in a while. Echo meanwhile is supposed to be a very active player in this story because he's the chosen next buffalo leader. Again, I don't hate Whisper, but I think she's not very interesting and because of that the buffalo subplot also feels less interesting than it should be.
As for Stride, his is less an arc of character growth and more so about learning about the world and stakes around him. He learns about the Great Devourer and Echo and Stonehide's past. So while I think he's less interesting of a character here, at least he can be a good audience stand-in as he (and thus the reader) learns more about the world and characters around him.
I will say that, while Stride doesn't grow that much as a character this time around, we do get a lot of development for his companion Stonehide the honey badger. We learn he's a Codebreaker, having killed a lioness who killed his mate. Stonebreaker was already an interesting character before this, but learning more about him was very welcome to me.
Also, I just gotta say that both Breathstealer's and Stride's plots were really nice to read just because they have good chemistry with the characters around then. Whether it's Stride with tough Stonehide or Great Mother, or Breathstealer with Graypelt the blind African wolf, these characters just play off one another really nicely. This is another thing I can't really say for Whisper, she doesn't have much chemistry with the characters around her. Their interactions aren't outright bad, either, but I just don't feel that much of a connection. And yes, there is a connection between her and Echo, but they don't spend that much time together in the first or second book, so she's mostly just on her own or with characters she disagrees with. She does have Thunder, her and Echo's adoptive mother, but they don't interact a whole lot.
As for the plot, it definitely seems to be going in an interesting direction. Part of me wishes it wasn't another huge supernatural force they were up against (Grandmother the ancient turbo-snake in the last arc, and now the Great Devourer, the spirit of death), but so far it has been built up well enough, with enough suspense and mystery to it. I also like the lore we got regarding the hyenas and their connection to the Great Devourer in particular, how they hyenas originally came from underground and how death is a very accepted part of life for them.
The hyenas are portrayed pretty negatively in Bravelands, but I do also like the nuance that they're not wholly evil. Not just meaning Breathstealer (particularly in the first book), but also just that they're animals just like any others in the Bravelands. They do have a very different way of life, but they're not inherently evil for it. I also like how in their culture death is very normalized and not seen as something to fear or hate. Something which can of course be taken to the (negative) extreme when becoming too worshiping of their death god, but overall it's not an inherently wrong stance to take.
So overall I had a good time with this one. Looking forward to the last book in the arc, and probably Bravelands as a whole!
Rating: 4/5
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