Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsEvery bit as good as book one
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 13 February 2018
Having run away from the help and support the Captain offered, Shanti must once again go it alone… but not for long. Unfortunately, liberating prisoners from a Graygual camp will attract the attention of The Hunter. Shanti will soon learn that sometimes in order to go forward, you must first go back.
Well my hopes for Shanti being treated like more of an equal are still going strong. A few of the males around her are starting to take her seriously though and by the end she’ll have a lot more respect from those around her than she did at the start; so that’s good. The road Shanti must travel certainly isn’t getting any easier, but at least she won’t be going it alone now. She’s given a glimmer of hope at a time when she really needs it and will even make a few new friends along the way. While that may make it sound like things are looking up for our girl, they really aren’t, as the Hunter adds yet more weight to her already burdened shoulders. She has many people seeking her out and could really do without drawing further attention to her if she’s going to re-united with her distant kin. All in all, things aren’t looking up for Shanti any time soon but the moments of levity and love help to make the darkness she faces that little bit lighter. If I’m perfectly honest though, my absolutely favourite part of this book isn’t the addition of a new character, but rather a horse. When the time to run comes, Shanti finds herself stealing a horse to get away and this horse has a huge personality. The scenes where she’s having to deal with her horse are some of my favourite because the beast is just wild and full of attitude. You’ll have to read it to get what I mean though, and hopefully once you have you’ll agree with me. There are other more serious aspects that I enjoyed too, like her reunion with a certain someone from her past, the way in which she earns forgiveness from those she’s wronged and the utter faith Leilius has in her, even after she’s gone. There’s also the more thought provoking aspects of the story, that comes from seeing how easy Cayan and his men have had it compared to the lands that have already been conquered. Not to mention we get a better look at what life on the run has been like for Shanti too. We still have a way to go before the final battle is fault and won, so don’t expect any easy outs and solutions but you are certainly in for one hell of a journey. So I say: on to book three!
Cautionary element(s): While not explicit, the threat/topic of rape is still a recurring element within this book/series.
