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kblincoln's review
4.0
The story of Dalyan, Amal, and her age group friends continues in this second book of The Horn series. I loved the first one.
This one is still pretty great, but I felt, as often happens with middle books, that in some ways we were just marking time. Oh we get some developments: the twenty-sevens have big plans now that they know the Salonen fortress may still be alive and that Amal & the Oathbreakers have been holding back information about the Fortresses all this time. Freja, in particular, gets several instances of being snappy because of what Amal has hidden from her. And we get to follow the main group traveling to meet the King to introduce both Dalyan as who he truly is, and as Amal's Consort...but there's alot of worrying and rehashing and wondering what the Cince were up to and not so many developments until they are just about at the end of their journey.
Still, I like this series BECAUSE of the world-building, and the very obvious thought put into the culture of the Family and how warrior-sensitives would live. I love Amal's group, and part of the reason I didn't enjoy this as much as the first one is because I think I missed them. They were off camera doing a lot without Amal's knowledge so we didn't get as much time with them as I would like. But the time spent explaining Family customs to Dalyan, and then showing him the world as they travel to see the King, those parts were just as fun as the first book. Just maybe wanted more development in the middle. Can't wait to find out what happens next as the book ends with Amal and Dalyan needing to fulfill duties in different parts of the country.
This one is still pretty great, but I felt, as often happens with middle books, that in some ways we were just marking time. Oh we get some developments: the twenty-sevens have big plans now that they know the Salonen fortress may still be alive and that Amal & the Oathbreakers have been holding back information about the Fortresses all this time. Freja, in particular, gets several instances of being snappy because of what Amal has hidden from her. And we get to follow the main group traveling to meet the King to introduce both Dalyan as who he truly is, and as Amal's Consort...but there's alot of worrying and rehashing and wondering what the Cince were up to and not so many developments until they are just about at the end of their journey.
Still, I like this series BECAUSE of the world-building, and the very obvious thought put into the culture of the Family and how warrior-sensitives would live. I love Amal's group, and part of the reason I didn't enjoy this as much as the first one is because I think I missed them. They were off camera doing a lot without Amal's knowledge so we didn't get as much time with them as I would like. But the time spent explaining Family customs to Dalyan, and then showing him the world as they travel to see the King, those parts were just as fun as the first book. Just maybe wanted more development in the middle. Can't wait to find out what happens next as the book ends with Amal and Dalyan needing to fulfill duties in different parts of the country.
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