Review: An excellent second in the series
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 06 18, 2014
4.5 starsThis book surprised me in a lot of ways. Usually by the time I get to the second book in a series, I feel like I pretty much have the motives and personalities of the characters figured out. Not so much in this series. One of the things that impressed me the most about this book is the way the characters have grown since the first in the series. Martyn Stanley takes his world, his characters and his story seriously enough to care that they learn as they go, grow into the heroes you want them to be and become worthy of continuing on with another book.The Verkreath Horror also surprised me because of the sheer intelligence in his battle scenes. Whereas many fantasy books annoy me because the battle scenes are either too short, too long or everyone ends up running and screaming or standing around confused when they would logically have been chopped to bits in a real battle, this author doesn't allow his characters that luxury. The descriptions are incredibly good and keep you holding your breath as you turn pages, hoping your favourites make it out alive.Whilst this is a darker book than the first, I also saw a line of hope and redemption in this story. I'm still trying to figure out how he managed to make a book so conflicting with itself, and yet pull it off so smoothly.My only complaint:I miss the goofiness between two of the characters. I won't add a spoiler here by saying which two, but one of the reasons I adored the first book so much was the banter and awkwardness between these two. It wasn't present in this story and that made me a little sad.Finally, the ending was not what I expected. Generally these books end on some massive cliffhanger, where everyone is in peril. These characters actually seem to be relatively squared away for the moment. I had to analyse this for a bit before writing this review. I believe this is the best way this book could have ended. The author now has me wondering not if, but when the danger will come. I'd rather wait for the next book thinking characters I have grown to love are safe for the moment. It makes it seem more real. How long can a terrifying beast stay suspended in mid-air whilst we wait for the author to release a book? Nope. This ending was genius.If you love fantasy books and you don't love reading the same thing that has already been done a million times before, this is a great series to go with. Even as someone who has spent much of their life reading fantasy novels from many authors, I still see originality in these books. Check them out, you won't be sorry you did.Hurry up and write me another book, Mr. Stanley. I am not altogether patient.