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mehak_ds's review against another edition
3.0
just going through old reads, this was 5 stars at age 13 and three stars at 22, but honestly it kind of holds up!
lalodragon's review against another edition
4.0
This is definitely the best young adult fantasy series I've read.
murmuration19's review against another edition
4.0
This second volume picks up considerably compared to the first book, The Naming, which I enjoyed but found to drag. Maerad makes mistakes and finds that she isn't awesome at everything, which was refreshing. We start to get into the meat of the story arc, and I was reading just to find out what would happen. I believe the next volume, The Crow, picks up Hem's story in the south, and that we won't rejoin Maerad until the fourth and final book, and that makes me sorry, as well as eager to get there.
librosyalgomas's review
4.0
me gusto mas que el anterior, pero sigue habiendo cosas que no entiendo del todo en este mundo, espero que se resuelva en los próximos libros
careinthelibrary's review against another edition
3.0
I'm compelled to keep reading this series as I like elements of the setting and worldbuilding but the plot itself holds me back. I find Croggon's writing slow and plodding with a lot of unnecessary side plots and conflicts. It was obvious from the start that Cadvan was not dead (rule of thumb: if you don't *see* a character die, chances are, they didn't), but the pretending he was dragged on for hundreds of pages. That was a slog. I did like the introduction of Darrin, the Pillanel (excuse my spelling, I'm going off the audiobooks) and the Winter King to this cast of characters, but again it seemed she lingers too long in every location and that this holds back the pacing and the plot from making it exciting and interesting. Yet despite all these pacing and plot flaws, I am intrigued. I want to read the next one! The worldbuilding, the bard schools, the Light and the Dark, they compel me to keep reading.
sgunther's review against another edition
4.0
This book was, if anything, better than the first one. It is a lot more exciting and suspensful.
helenamt's review
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
chelsea_not_chels's review against another edition
3.0
Re-reading this one years after the first couple of times (which were in high school). There are some great settings here, but the writing can be a bit stark and there's some insta-love going on in the Arkan department. I like that Croggon's world does have different cultures, rather than being completely homogeneous. But the pacing was sometimes slow and while there were some very cool magical encounters--storm dogs, anyone?--but there's also just a lot of walking or riding horses, and this could have been trimmed down quite a bit.
cassiekuczi's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5