bookishzelda
Written on May 4, 2013
Definitely an interesting spectrum of characters, there were the bad guys that you like anyway because they weren¡¦t necessarily bad. Then of course the good guys that aren¡¦t as good as they seem. Although those are not completely obvious, I¡¦ve still got my suspicious goggles on.
Kaliope, Kal, is a great female lead. She is strong and clever and I like how she takes a step often to really assess a situation. She also has a definite hot temper. One of the challenges that Kal faces is that she must hide the Mercury that flows in her blood. She has a device that allows it to pump away from her heart but when she becomes emotional it comes to the service. Her mother believes that Alyah one of the goddesses has blessed Kal and that is why she is alive. Kal suffered an abusive childhood which has made her strong and brave. I love her devotion to her mother, it shows her softer side.
Okay so I loved the relationship that develops between Caben and Kaliope. At the beginning they basically can¡¦t stand each other for the most part because they keep getting in the others way of doing what they actually want to do. Caben challenges Kal in a way that I think she is not used to, especially coming for a society where the women are dominant. I also think it¡¦s hard for her to see men really clearly with the past experiences she has had with her father. Caben definitely challenges her belief that men are useless. I found myself smiling at many of their exchanges, short of giggling because I loved them.
The world that the story place in is very interesting. There are 3 different main kingdoms and of those we really only spend time in Cavan. This is a society where the women are the dominant ones and they have an Empress, Iana, who runs the kingdom. Kaliope is actually has spent her time previous to where we pick her up at training to be a protector and in hopes to get promoted to Nactue, which is basically the Empress personal bodyguards. The Nactue is made up of only women. The other area that the majority of the book takes place is the Otherworlders realm which is underground. This turns out to be more developed and elaborate then the surface dwellers seem to believe.
Trisha is great with weaving her unique mythology into stories. This of course has a strong mythology background (The Goddess Wars) but it¡¦s not specific to a region, these Goddesses are ones that Trisha as created but you can tell they are based off some of the other know ones. The Moon Goddess has a very strong presence being she is what fuels a lot of the story, she is not on the side of good though. Bale was banished by the other Goddesses for her hate of humanity. The Otherworlders however worship her almost blindly and this is what is believed to fuel their attacks on the other kingdoms.
The plot was filled with plenty of action that kept it moving. When we get to the Otherworlders realm things get a little crazy. It reminds me a lot of Gladiator competitions that they used to have in the Coliseums. There is a bit of mystery intertwined as we learn the how and why of the attacks of Otherworlders and even as to why they are abducting people as they go. I don¡¦t like giving away too much of the story because I was on my toes the entire time and I want you to feel the same way as I did when I read.
Okay the best part of this ending. It was one of those that was a cliffhanger, but it also wrapped up enough that you won¡¦t be stomping your feet too hard. What I loved about it is that it kept me thinking after I read the book. How are they going to get out of this, what could she have done differently. Could Kal have tried doing this instead, will this work later. What happens if she poos? (You have to read it to understand that one. º )I love a book that has me going over different scenarios in my head after I¡¦m done reading. It means it really invested me in the story and got me caring enough about the characters enough to worry about them after the fact.
I consider this another win by Trisha Wolfe! Every time I read a new book by her I think oh wait this is my favorite of her books now. I¡¦m so excited for book 2!