Wizard Heir (Heir Chronicles, #2)

by Cinda Williams Chima

[ladygrey]

The Wizard Heir is good, though not quite as good as The Warrior Heir. Finds Williams China's strength really is in the disloyal and the interplay between the young protagonists. Seph doesn't have the network of friends or family that Jack had so there is less of that dynamic and fun.

But the world is still well conceived and Steph is interesting enough to sustain the narrative. It definitely picks up when he meets up with characters we already know. And I loved the way the two stories weave together so we get a new story without ignoring the characters we're already invested in. But I didn't love the incessant recap of the guilds and the world and the previous books. I understand that some exposition is necessary, but not the same information two and three and four times. Also, the reminders within the book were annoying. "Alicia had said something about Ravens Gyll" yes, I know, I was reading this book when she said it 20 pages ago. Once is reminiscent, over and over again is ridiculous.

That one annoyance aside I still enjoyed the progressing politics and developing elements of this world and these characters. I also like Chima's writing style which is mostly straightforward but every now and then throws you a line that's really good.

Reread: The first third of the book annoys me because nothing happens. I’m not saying that whole interlude isn’t necessary for the story but it goes on and on and if you’ve read the first book, you don’t learn anything new. Seph is the only character introduced who is going to matter to the story. I get that he needs to learn about this world but he learns less than we already know. And for those that haven’t read the first book, the whole Havens segment could be done in like 3 chapters instead of 9.

Also, I think the only thing that really annoys me is how all the characters keep secrets. I get it, secrets can increase the tension or create conflict. But here just they just create delays. Seph maybe has good reasons not to trust people, but his secrets just keep the story from moving forward, whether it's the Havens or Madison or what. Tell somebody - and let the consequences of that happen - because those are going to be interesting. And it's not all Seph's fault - all sorts of people are keeping secrets from him. The telling of secrets and the ramifications of secrets are a whole more interesting than the keeping of secrets. They move the story forward and maybe in a new direction. Let it happen so it feels like the story is actually being told and not just limping along, holding all the interesting things back so there's more pages.