Astrid Amara
Completed 3/9/2018,
Reviewed 3/9/2018
4 stars
I continue to surprise myself by how much I like this
series. I guess one would call it
fantasy opera because it is a fantasy replete with magic and magical beings,
though used sparingly, and full of court maneuverings and intrigue. As my regular readers are already aware, I’m
not a fan of space opera in general, but this has me hooked. Be aware that the summary and discussion of
this book constitutes a spoiler for the first book, so don’t read further if
you want to avoid the spoilers.
Book Two follows the Paran family as they are exiled from the
kingdom. They are forced to live in
hiding for three years, avoiding all contact with anyone who would know them
lest their exile be extended another three years. I addition, anyone who would give them any
aid would be cast down to the lowest caste, that is, be made an untouchable.
This of course creates a terrible situation for Jandu and
his lover Keshan. They will not be able
to see each other for three years. Secretly,
though, they find a way to send letters to each other. All the while, Jandu tries to hide this
relationship from his family, as homosexuality is forbidden in the kingdom and
at least his eldest brother, the man who would be king, is not tolerant. After two years of hiding in the jungle, the
family is discovered by one of their arch enemies who is spying for the
king. Jardu kills him and the family is
on the run again. This time they hide as
servants in the household of a neighboring lord, taking pseudonyms, hiding in
plain sight.
Back in the kingdom, Tarek, the king’s new judge still has
unrequited love for the king. He too
keeps his love a secret lest he be put to death. Still he finds ways to find quick encounters,
particularly with one of his army’s commanders.
In the meantime, Tarek makes his way around the kingdom enforcing new laws
and fealty to the king. When a lord
exhibits rebellious behavior, Tarek goes in and squashes him.
Despite being a second book in a trilogy, I found it to be
riveting. You’d think that a book
primarily about living in exile would be boring, but it wasn’t. It’s full of interesting twists and turns and
encounters with magical beings. In an
interesting turn of events, Jandu is cursed by a goddess to turn into a
woman. Jandu prays to the head god and
gets a reprieve: he only has to live one
year as a woman. The family uses this to
their advantage when they become servants of the neighboring lord. Jandu, now a woman, poses as a music teacher,
teaching the lord’s youngest son to play the flute.
The character development is great. All the characters become much more fleshed
out in this volume. I felt like I had
empathy for most of them. And I think
that’s the point, creating moral ambiguity among the characters. Even the bad king isn’t so bad. He’s doing some bad things, but at the same
time, slowly working to end the caste system and creating a more just
kingdom. But his obsession with finding
the Paran family supplants all his good works.
I give this book four stars out of five. It’s a short book, and pretty easy
reading. Having the series be three
short chunks rather than one long book was a smart idea. It makes it like a serial where you can’t
wait to get to the next part. You can find the review for Book 1 here.
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