The second book of R.K. Lander’s series follows the first book right away – and while the first one was focused on the dangers outside, this one delves more into the threats within.

Fel’annár is sent to the heart of the Alpine elves’ land, as part of a royal escort, but there are dangers on the road and it quickly turns perilous. The power he struggles to control does help, but the journey is still quite rough and finished at a high cost.

During that time, Fel’annár is told the truth about his origins, which is a harsh revelation to him, something he (unsurprisingly) struggles with. As he’s recovering from the toll the journey took on him, he learns more about the political issues surrounding him and the disruptive element he can be in the dangerous political situation. Fortunately, his companions aren’t leaving him to deal with this mess alone.

In the meantime, the Alpine purists keep plotting and scheming. This is what exposes the flaw with the writer’s style regarding the point-of-view (which I mentioned with the first book) as these moments are exactly those that need to be completely clear whose PoV a scene (or internal thought) is – which isn’t always the case, and there were two or three scenes that made me turn back a couple of pages to see if I’ve missed something.

There’s also only a little bit being shown from the side of King Thargodén, despite the fact he’s quite involved in all of this mess and that the blurb teases him coming back from the shadows, though there isn’t much screen time given to him. I guess the time will come in book three, but I expected to see more of him.

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Read date: 27.10.-6.11.2021
Published: 28.4.2018
Goodreads/Amazon rating: 4,52/4,7.
My rating: 90%
Length: 322 pages (Kindle edition)
My highlights

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As with book one, staying with generous 90%. The book is enjoyable story-wise and gets me quite invested for the main character, but the PoV issues are something that bugs me here and there. Not enough to disrupt my enjoyment too much, but it’s noticeable.