Time for book three. Spoilers ahead.
White Ash is a young woman trying to survive after her tribe gets murdered by rivals. Bad Belly, meanwhile, is a philosophical and clumsy man from a different tribe. The duo seem to be fated to meet up, and a grand destiny awaits them as only they can save the Wolf Pouch and bring peace to the tribes when White Ash's childhood crush, Brave Man, is dead-set on bringing destruction.
A pretty solid third installment. This isn't my favorite book series so far or anything, but it is pretty interesting regardless. I also like how each book takes place in a different time period and has a different cast of characters, making it somewhat of an anthology series (though there are elements tying the books together).
The characters were pretty interesting in this. I liked White Ash and Bad Belly (later renamed Still Water) as protagonists, they were decently compelling characters and their connection was pretty well-written. Funnily enough, though, Still Water actually has more chemistry with a trader known as Left Hand, who is canonically his best friend, but their interactions can easily be read as romantic if you're open-minded. Not to say that White Ash and Still Water had no chemistry whatsoever, they do a little, but I honestly felt that the connection between Still Water and Left Hand felt more genuine.
Brave Man made for a pretty compelling antagonist. He definitely falls into the same category that other antagonists in this series (and, in a broader range, other prehistoric fiction such as Earth's Children and The First Americans) have fallen into before (haughty, prideful and vengeful leader of a tribe who desperately craves a woman), but he was a pretty well-executed version of the trope.
The plot moves pretty slowly, but the writing was good and kept me engaged. They had some good moments of building suspense and mystery.
I guess I am a bit tired of the sexism/misogyny and sexual abuse, though. I don't know why so many prehistoric fiction books feel the need to fall into these tropes, but it's rampant and just kinda overdone. I hope the future books have less of it.
I also don't like how in one scene White Ash is very, very unsympathetic to her cousin/niece (I forgot which), who is a rape victim. Instead of showing comfort and kindness to this character, which would make sense because White Ash is usually sympathetic and is also a rape victim herself, she becomes very cold and standoffish and the cousin/niece is really vilified in the end. I don't know, this just feels uncalled for? Not only does White Ash feel very out-of-character here, it just feels like it's in very bad taste to portray a victim of rape like this, as a very whiny and later morally corrupt person instead of a victim who needs (and deserves) help. It gave me a bad taste in my mouth.
Overall still a decent book, but that did put me off a bit.
Rating: 3.5/5
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