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A review by esop
Grievar's Blood by Alexander Darwin
4.0
A fascinating and thrilling follow-up.
Darwin has upped the stakes considerably in this second installment of the Combat Codes Saga, which is really saying something when the series is already tackling brutal, sometimes fatal duels, many of which involve children.
It was a bold and interesting choice sidelining one of the main characters of the previous book for the entirety of this one, but it's a gamble that I think paid off given the ending. And it lent the spotlight to new POVs, one of which was my favorite part of this book.
Solara Halberd's journey in this book was a breath of fresh air, getting us out of the Lyceum and introducing us to the islands of Besayd (love that little reference to Final Fantasy X's Besaid [I assume]). It was nice seeing a new setting in this world, getting a bit of this country's culture, including the introduction of rocs, which I loved. Rocs are huge birds that people use as mounts, just like Final Fantasy's Chocobos. Sol's storyline involving trying to retrieve her father's body was both exciting and also brought some emotional stakes to the proceedings that I did not necessarily get from the first book.
Not to mention the fact that this teen girl has to steal her father's body from some Daimyo lord's personal museum is a way darker topic than I expected this series to tackle. Which, again, is quite saying something given the central conceit of the series as I mentioned before. But right from the start, I was totally on board with Sol's goal and was anxious to see how it played out.
Cego's storyline also takes some wildly dark turns in this volume, although I won't get into that for fear of spoiling the journey. But I will admit I was much more invested here than I was in his story from the previous book. Darwin does a great job of writing these action scenes and introducing truly shocking turns of events one after the other. This book is truly a rollercoaster ride.
The book ends setting up a paradigm-shifting conflict for the final book in the trilogy, with a bunch of disparate storylines converging to reveal the true intent of the Combat Codes Saga. I can't wait to see how it all unfolds.
Darwin has upped the stakes considerably in this second installment of the Combat Codes Saga, which is really saying something when the series is already tackling brutal, sometimes fatal duels, many of which involve children.
It was a bold and interesting choice sidelining one of the main characters of the previous book for the entirety of this one, but it's a gamble that I think paid off given the ending. And it lent the spotlight to new POVs, one of which was my favorite part of this book.
Solara Halberd's journey in this book was a breath of fresh air, getting us out of the Lyceum and introducing us to the islands of Besayd (love that little reference to Final Fantasy X's Besaid [I assume]). It was nice seeing a new setting in this world, getting a bit of this country's culture, including the introduction of rocs, which I loved. Rocs are huge birds that people use as mounts, just like Final Fantasy's Chocobos. Sol's storyline involving trying to retrieve her father's body was both exciting and also brought some emotional stakes to the proceedings that I did not necessarily get from the first book.
Not to mention the fact that this teen girl has to steal her father's body from some Daimyo lord's personal museum is a way darker topic than I expected this series to tackle. Which, again, is quite saying something given the central conceit of the series as I mentioned before. But right from the start, I was totally on board with Sol's goal and was anxious to see how it played out.
Cego's storyline also takes some wildly dark turns in this volume, although I won't get into that for fear of spoiling the journey. But I will admit I was much more invested here than I was in his story from the previous book. Darwin does a great job of writing these action scenes and introducing truly shocking turns of events one after the other. This book is truly a rollercoaster ride.
The book ends setting up a paradigm-shifting conflict for the final book in the trilogy, with a bunch of disparate storylines converging to reveal the true intent of the Combat Codes Saga. I can't wait to see how it all unfolds.