Reviews with content warning for Cursing - The Battle Drum

I'm very frustrated by having to rate this book so low, but I definitely didn't enjoy it as much as the first book.

The first book had some flaws, but I still broadly enjoyed the characters, the setting, and the worldbuilding. While this second book fixed my biggest pet peeve of rapidly switching POV's (this one had the more standard format of a chapter only having one character's POV), it felt like this one was actually more confusing than the first one, and that the author lost plot momentum from the first book.

The characters just weren't as likeable in this book. I still really enjoyed Hassa and she's easily a stand-out character, but Jond was just boring and Sylah was not in the book enough for me to judge her characterisation. Anoor, however, I was the most disappointed in. Like Sylah, it feels like she barely has any screen-time in this book, but most egregiously she seems to regress in all of her character development that she gained in the first book. I hate to criticise characters who make seemingly stupid mistakes, as oftentimes they'll be realistic mistakes that you might expect one to make, but Anoor keeps making mistakes over and over and doesn't seem to learn from the negative impacts of these. She's incompetent and seemingly regains her naivety that she grew out of in the first book. This makes the twist

of her being the Child of Fire also come out of left-field, as she goes from being exceedingly naive and sad to suddenly angry and wanting revenge over the space of a chapter

.

The plot certainly had some interesting bits, particularly with the Academy and how the cultures of the mainland work. I did also broadly enjoy the plot reveals towards the end of the book; however, they were all suddenly shoved into the end of the book leaving little room for the characters to breathe, and many of the plot twists could have been revealed and solved earlier if characters simply communicated with each other (

for instance, with Jond not telling Sylah that the other disciples were Sandstorm - what was his reasoning for not telling this to Sylah in the first place? It's not really explained in the text

).

Broadly, this book's usually interesting plot was dragged down by its characters and overall characterisation. I still might pick up the next one when it comes out as I think the mysteries that have been set up are worth reading, but I do hope that the author can figure out where they want their characters to go.

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adventurous challenging dark informative mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.75

The Battle Drum- 2.75⭐️ 1🌶️

Anoor is the first blue-blooded ruler of the Wardens' Empire. But when she is accused of a murder she didn't commit, her reign is thrown into turmoil. She must solve the mystery and clear her name without the support of her beloved, Sylah.

Hassa's web of secrets grows ever thicker as she finds herself on a trail of crimes in the city. Her searching uncovers the extent of the atrocities of the empire's past and present. Now, she must guard both her heart and her land.

Sylah braves new lands to find a solution for the hurricane that threatens to destroy her home. But in finding answers, she must make a decision, does she sacrifice her old life in order to raise up her sword once more?

The three women find their answers, but they're not the answers they wanted. The drumbeat of change thrums throughout the world.

Ready we will be, when the Ending Fire comes,

Ready we will be, for war will come.

And it sings a song of war.

✨My Opinion✨

The story being retold at the beginning was very helpful for diving back into the story. I wish that more authors did this!

This book was not for me. I felt like it suffered from the second book issue and I didn’t love the first enough. I will not be continuing the series.

Finishing this book was like pulling teeth. I just lost interest in how unfocused it was. It took forever to get to the underlying connections of the plot. One minute they are solving a murder mystery, the next we are on the ocean or in an earthquake/acid rain/monsoon rain situation. It seemed like pointless wandering in the plot. The mini cliffhangers at the end of POV’s didn’t drive the story forward for me, but annoyed me because I couldn’t really tell the difference between plot cliffhangers and POV cliffhangers. So when big plot reveals happened, they felt insignificant.

I was reminded time and time again why I didn’t like the MC’s in the first book. They didn’t improve in a tangible enough way for me to start liking them.

Sapphic

Traveling

Revolution

War

Colonization

Miscarriage

Murder

Domestic abuse

Religious bigotry

Gore

Thank you Random House Publishing and Del Ray for an advanced reader copy of The Battle Drum in exchange for an honest review.

Available May 23, 2023

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