Let's take a look at book two. Spoilers ahead.
Audace, Spica, Regulus, Stellarius and Robinia return in this second installment. Desperate to continue on their quest to take down the evil witch queen, they travel to the cold northern realm of the smithing gnomes. Things is, the gnomes are currently being ruled over by a goblin-like race known as the Snodos, which have the gnomes enslaved and are working for the Witch Queen. Audace and the others will have to find a way to free the realm, while also solving part of the riddle they've been given.
A very strong second installment if you ask me. I already liked the first, but this one I feel is where things really get going. I also thought the realm of the icy mountains of the gnomes we travel to in this book was far more interesting, unique and well-explored than the forest realm of the last book. Which was also fine, but in the end it really came down to it just being a forest with various different sections and dangers.
Meanwhile the gnome realm has all sorts of treacherous mountains, caves, secret tunnels, forts and villages. The culture of the gnomes also feels like it's explored more and I quite liked the various gnome characters we got to meet throughout this book. They don't all leave an equally big impact, but the realm does feel real and lived in and like it has a big cast, especially compared to the forest which felt kind of empty aside from the major characters which got introduced.
If I do have a criticism this book it's mostly regarding Robinia. She...doesn't do that much. Spica's and Regulus' roles have also shrunken down a bit compared to the last book, but at least it feels like they're given more things to do. Robinia is just kind of there. Sure, she does go along with the adventure and all, but nothing in the story really seems to truly justify her being there so far aside from being just another friend of Audace.
I also kinda question if Robinia should've come along in the first place, since she's the heir to the throne of the Forest Realm. She tries to excuse herself from it by saying she wants to instate a democracy, but like, we're in the middle of a war, the Forest Realm was literally just freed from the influence of the Witch Queen, and now the only person the Forest Elves have to look up to as a leader abandons them. Robinia doesn't even really instate a new leader to help establish the democracy before leaving, she just kinda goes and says the Forest needs to return to electing its leaders.
I'm not against her instating a democracy in the realm, by the way, but what I am against is her just abandoning her people without a moment's notice and pretty much leaving them to figure things out for themselves. And all that literally after they just regained their independence, so things are still no doubt turbulent in the realm. It just feels irresponsible and made me dislike Robinia a lot as a character. It's not something a good leader would do, even one who is about to step down in favor of a democracy. Would it really have hurt for her to stay behind and carefully guide her people into their new voting system before stepping down for real? Instead of just packing her things and leaving them at once?
Ah well, the rest was pretty darn good though. I still like most of the characters (sans Robinia) and the twist regarding the goose was also pretty neat. I'm glad the gnomes managed to regain their independence and look forward to the next adventure.
Rating: 4/5
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