Princess Zeraphina and Rodden, the King's right-hand man, are
both "harmings", a kind of vampire who isn't actually undead, but
does need blood; it doesn't have to be human and Rodden and Zeraphina make the most of small
creatures such as rabbits and squirrels.
But now beggars and other
unlikely-to-be-missed folk have been found drained of blood in the streets.
Sailors and their ships are going missing. In the previous book, Rodden and
Zeraphina made their way north to Lharmell, home of the vampires, and stopped a
mass Turning, killing the leader of the harmings. Back then, the harmings
weren't too bright, but now someone is actually planning. They have to be stopped, but Rodden's kingdom has
been refusing to believe anything is wrong and Zeraphina's mother wants her to
come home and get married. And they are both running short of yelbar, the stuff
they need to tip their arrows if they're going to kill the horrors up north...
This novel is better than the first - unusual for the dreaded middle book of a trilogy! The universe is more
developed and we learn why the south part of the continent is colder than the
north, and it isn't because Antarctica is nearby. We also learn about Rodden's past,
which isn't pretty. There are touches of humour, rare in this sort of fantasy.
The novel is not, despite the romantic cover, a standard
paranormal romance; it's an action adventure with romance in it, although
Zeraphina's love for Rodden is an important part of her motivation. It's not, though, her entire motivation - she knows how vital their quest is and cares about the victims, including children who have been turned into harmings. The heroine
is not a Mary Sue, nor a Chosen One, and if she's good with a bow and arrow,
she has earned it with a lot of practice; any other abilities she has are the
result of being a harming, if a special harming who has experimented. She has a brain she is willing to use and Rodden is also happy for her to use it.
Be warned! It ends on a cliffhanger this time.
Because they aren't
standard paranormal romances, I might try these books on the boys who have been
reading our collection of Tamora Pierce and Kate Constable books and Garth
Nix's Old Kingdom trilogy. It isn't entirely true that boys won't read a book
with a girl on the cover...
No comments:
Post a Comment