Hello everyone!
This means I get fortunate enough to be sent an ARC of their works, which I can then review as soon as I end up finding the time.
Which I always do, and PRONTO.
Last year at some point, I was contacted by the lovely Hayley Reese Chow asking whether or not I'd be interested in reading her fantasy novel, Odriel's Heirs, and I mean ... fantasy, y'all. What else do you say but HECK YES?
I've since been waiting patiently on the sequel, and the truth of the matter is we aren't just getting a sequel, oh no, no, no.
There's a sequel novella AND the sequel!
So strap on those swords and come have a look at Burning Shadows with me, alright? Time to go kill some undead.
In a VERY quick update, however: Odriel's Heirs tells the story of how a benevolent deity bestowed powers upon three individuals to help guard the land from what I can only describe as zombie extras from The Walking Dead, and at the time when we catch up with the story, the Dragon Heir Kaia and Shadow Heir Klaus are on their way to try and defeat (and destroy) Idriel, the not-so-benevolent deity intent on enslaving the entire world.
The third heir, the Time Heir, is lost, but our two heroes do manage to turn the tide, with an ominous cliffhanger ending because not all of the Lost have been killed in the battle.
And this is where Burning Shadows begins.
The army - or what's left of it - has dispersed again, but the Heirs have been traveling across the land, driving the Lost before them, but never quite fast enough to reach them in time so they don't destroy more of what's in their path, and they're getting a little bit desperate.
Kaia, in particular, is suffering from PTSD after what she did during the war, including but not limited to losing some of her good friends and needing to incinerate someone NOT Lost because ... well.
It's in this frame of mind that they reach the border of the western lands, which is basically an emptier land in the middle of nowhere, and where the Western Guard holds sway, captained by one Madoc, who's had it in for Klaus since they were younger because Klaus, as it turns out, won a competition but didn't like the look of Madoc's sister who was handing out the winning kiss, and disappeared on them all.
But enough of the shenanigans, there's actual things to worry over.
Like the fact that the brutes from across the river, the Rastgol, who drink the blood of their dead and cure their meat because ... ew ... have somehow managed to corral the Lost and use them for their attacks.
They also know Kaia's there at the fort and want to trade for her (so they can drink HER blood), which neither Kaia, Madoc nor Klaus are having, and a fight ensues during which Kaia takes out the bridge where negotiations take place (and on that note if you haven't seen Bridge of Spies, I do recommend it).
Klaus volunteers to scout into enemy territory to see what's what, but naturally he doesn't return when he's supposed to and so Kaia goes after him, explaining to Madoc that while she won't use her fire on the living, as that would surely kill her as much as them, she WILL walk into fire for individuals who are worth it.
And Klaus is.
She finds him stuck in a tree in between some large buffalo-type herds being moved about as a type of fail-safe, and he's been stuck there because one of said beasts trampled on his foot and so he can't move quietly or efficiently.
This means they need a diversion, so Kaia goes to set something on fire, which happens to be the curing shed because ... see above for the explanation, and then she gets spotted as she's stealing two horses, but she equally finds the Lost and burns them to cinders while the commotion spreads.
And it's during this process that she sees Mogens.
Or she thinks she sees him.
See for the Lost to even exist, and especially to obey, you need a necromancer around - and at this time Kaia and Klaus don't really know that they DIDN'T actually get rid of the actual necromancer back in book one - and Mogens is one of those faces you don't want dancing about. He killed their grandparents and Kaia's father, so they thought they'd subjected him to death as well, and Kaia isn't entirely sure she's seen him there either, kind of looking like one of the Lost, but not really, but she stores the information away for later.
She and Klaus make it back to the river where Madoc is waiting with an ambush, and the whole lot of them later celebrate at the fort, Kaia and Klaus reaffirm their relationship, and decide they're going to start a school to train warriors so that they actually HAVE an army to call if they need it.
Which is where we leave them, dreaming of a future where they have a place to rest their heads and call their own in between their wanderings. Because isn't that the one thing we all crave?
We do, which is why this novella works.
If you remember, back with Odriel's Heirs, I had just a couple of little nit-picks in that I felt the action was a little bit too packed and you needed to take mini-breaks so you didn't feel out of breath, and I had an eh relationship with Kaia for some reason.
Well, sadly she still isn't 100% for me, but I think that's just because of me, not something that's inherently wrong with the character, so that's not the basis on which I'll be judging this short story.
Nope,because otherwise, the action in this one was tight, concise, and to the point - there was the one focus that everything else revolved around which eliminates the possibility of feeling winded while reading, we return to the characters we know and only get one new introduction to help tide us over into the second novel, and of course, there's romance.
There's ALWAYS gotta be romance, in every good story!
I'm still a big fan of Klaus and probably always will be, there's just something about him that works. Madoc is 50-50 for me because I feel like he's good in small doses, but in bigger ones would probably be annoying as all get-out, though again it might just be me. Kaia, we all know I'm undecided about her.
I thoroughly enjoyed this return to the land that Odriel's heirs protect, and we have just enough information now to tide us into Idriel's Children - the ARC of which is also happily sitting on my e-reader at the moment.
Sadly there is no crochety old goat of a mage in this one, nor is there Shadmundar, the cat who has a master degree in sarcasm, but I'm hopeful we get to see them again in the second book.
Until then, however ...
10/10 recommend! (and OMG the cover 😍)
xx
*image not mine
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