Wooo boy things ramp up.

After The Runelords, with the invasion by uber powerful Raj Ahtan, finally driven off by the rise of Earth King Gaborn, it was hard to believe that we could ramp up even far. Now Gaborn is coming into his powers, while Raj Ahtan has to figure out how to strike back and/or regroup.

That’s a pretty solid story in and of itself, but of course that’s not all that we have. The world is getting big and messy, with the introduction of the even bigger bad (the Reavers) now taking a center stage, and a few new characters: such as 9 year old (ex-)skyrider Averan and the return of the missing Wylde. That’s a pretty crazy new extension to the elemental magic system and a fascinating plot all it’s own. It’s getting away from just the ‘rune’ based magic that I loved in the first book, but in a good way. It’s quite a story and it really ramps up in this episode’s final confrontation. Oh man things are getting crazy.

On the downside, it’s a very long story. It could probably have been trimmed down without losing much at all, but then again I really do like epic fantasy, so I don’t mind too much. And this time around, I’m listening to the stories whenever I’m driving or taking a walk, so I don’t mind spending a little longer in the world.

One of the most insane things in this entire world: all of these first two doorstop sized books takes place in about a week. Man that’s a lot to happen in a week… Even with endowments of Metabolism.

Overall, it’s a very solid book. In my opinion, as good as (although in a different way) the first one. Well worth the read for both. Onward!