Finally got my hands on a copy! Spoilers ahead!
Silversong, now having swallowed the piece of time, is determined to unite the wolf packs to stand against the Heretic and Rime. But this proves more difficult than he anticipated, with a wolf known as the Warden religiously following the Wolven Code and blocking his efforts at nearly every turn. There is also quite a bit of infighting and political drama within the Wolven army itself. It all comes down to Silversong to learn to control the piece of time and unite the packs, before the Heretic can enact his plans.
Yeah, this did not disappoint. The first book I already loved, and this one is a worthy successor. I think I might like the first one just a teeny bit more, but both are very solid entries.
The writing is still top-notch here. From the well-written and three-dimensional characters to the solid world-building to the way it slowly introduces more aspects to the reader, to the political intrigue of the Wolven packs to the semi-redemption of Rime to the relationship between Silversong and Frostpaw. It's all just...fantastic.
I also really appreciate how (at least so far) not a lot in this world seems to be truly black-and-white. There are wolves who can be (at least semi-)redeemed in the outlaws, as shown in Rime, yet Silversong's army also is far from perfect with a lot of wolves working against him. Not just the Warden but others as well. It was nice to see Silversong slowly get more and more support, but his rise to power isn't exactly what you'd predict.
There's also some devastating deaths in this (I won't spoil who). Overall I just think that the character writing in these books is just really, really solid. These wolves, at least the main ones, feel like real people.
The politics of the Wolven army was also interesting, with the Warden being the leader and most of them packs falling under her having their own political ups and downs and inter-pack relationships. This isn't a uniform force of good, this is a three-dimensional, realistic-feeling army that doesn't always get along and is in part unhealthily dedicated to the Wolven Code.
It's just good stuff. I was also glad that this book explicitly confirmed Silversong as being gay. He isn't in a relationship with Frostpaw (yet), but after a lot of teasing in book one and early book two I'm glad that the author actually put it explicitly on-page. I hope that eventually Silversong confesses his feelings to Frostpaw!
My only tiny gripe is that I spotted a few capitalization errors, but that's it.
Just a great book, I'm still wow-ed by it!
Rating: 4.5/5
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