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A review by kaje_harper
Weregild by Carole Cummings
5.0
4.5 stars. Another excellent installment in the fantasy series. Together with the first book, these two form a fairly complete story arc with a satisfying conclusion. Clearly there is more story that could be told, but this second book has some closure and not a cliffhanger ending. Reading these first two together is important, but then you can stop and take a breath.
The characters are varied and appealing, the action complex and spectacular. There is no author who can make you feel a character's pain as well as Carole Cummings does. When things go bad for Jacin, his anguish will make your chest ache and your throat hurt. Seeing Malick realize that despite all his power he can fail, and that it will hurt with an intensity one of his kind should not feel, acts more subtly to break your heart.
This is a different book from the first, far more focused on action in a more linear timeline and in the second half vastly more fast-paced. The characters go through growth and loss and changes until most of them are very different at book's end than they were when the story began, (except perhaps for steadfast Samin.)
Numerous viewpoints come together to tell this story, some more engaging than others. It is to the author's credit that the voices are distinct and appropriate to the characters, adding depth to our understanding of each of them. Jacin, Malick, Samin, Shig and perhaps Joori pull the reader in deep to their particular understanding of motivations, emotions and events in this complex world.
I look forward to the next two installments of this series.
The characters are varied and appealing, the action complex and spectacular. There is no author who can make you feel a character's pain as well as Carole Cummings does. When things go bad for Jacin, his anguish will make your chest ache and your throat hurt. Seeing Malick realize that despite all his power he can fail, and that it will hurt with an intensity one of his kind should not feel, acts more subtly to break your heart.
This is a different book from the first, far more focused on action in a more linear timeline and in the second half vastly more fast-paced. The characters go through growth and loss and changes until most of them are very different at book's end than they were when the story began, (except perhaps for steadfast Samin.)
Numerous viewpoints come together to tell this story, some more engaging than others. It is to the author's credit that the voices are distinct and appropriate to the characters, adding depth to our understanding of each of them. Jacin, Malick, Samin, Shig and perhaps Joori pull the reader in deep to their particular understanding of motivations, emotions and events in this complex world.
I look forward to the next two installments of this series.