Review: Excellent Second Book
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 03 1, 2013
In the second book of the Souls of the Stones we pick up right where we left the first book. Emariya has agreed to an engagement to Prince Torian despite the prophecy of the stones. The alliance is one to convince the people of Torian's kingdom to support the search and retrieval of Emariya's father, who is still missing.The opening scene's of this book are scary. Princess Terin is kidnapped and Emariya is trapped in some sort of black void. Both are a product of heartbreaking betrayal from people close to Emariya.Kelly Walker really has a knack for writing fantasy. Her wording and storytelling just flows. It seems effortless. Reading her words is like floating. That's the only way I can describe the feeling I get while reading about Emariya. Writers of fantasy usually are verbose, however, often times I find myself bogged down by the words. Walker walks the line between wordy and light perfectly."For all intents, it was as if the world around her had ceased to exist, leaving her alone in the quiet nothingness."That's just the tip of the iceberg, as you get deeper in the book the better it gets.This book is another book where Emariya travels a lot. It's not the same though. Nothing on her trip to her Mother's homeland smacks of a repeat of book one. Even when they pass familiar landmarks it's still fresh and new. This time she has Torain with her for the whole journey. I cannot tell you how delighted I was about that. Torain is still his beautiful self, and I still love him. He seems a bit lighter in this book than he was in the first book, but that is probably because he is no longer a suspect in any wrong doings. The build up and tension of their relationship is killing me. Things get hot, but it's not a done deal yet. If you catch my drift. Which I kind of found refreshing. Also, considering Emaryia spent a good portion of this book unconscious I'm kinda happy that Torian can keep his hands to himself. She's got a lot to deal with, without the man in her life, being all pushy.Reeve, Emariya's brother is still the gross betrayer that he turned out to be in the first book, but then again we see a different side when he is dealing with his own pull of the stones. That's all I can say about that without spoiling part of the book.I'm an action girl. I like there to be some action in the books that I read. There is plenty of action here and Emariya proves herself to be useful, resourceful heroine that we all love to read about. People die, and it's heartbreaking. Kelly is not afraid to kill people. Did I cry, well of course. But don't tell anyone. It will ruin my tough girl rep.Overall, this book is a great second installment to the series. It's not just filler, there are significant things that happen in the book that need to happen. Honestly, I wish I could talk about them, but if I did I would spoil the book. There is so much good stuff here. Just go read it, please. You won't be sorry.The author provided me with a gifted copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.