Review: Enjoyable fantasy adventure
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 07 5, 2014
The third installment in the highly-enjoyable Norothian Cycle, The Wind From Miilark focuses on John Deskata, who has headed home to Miilark to try to rescue his family's fortune and be reunited with his love Rhianne. The situation when he arrives home is dire, and, vowing to avenge his family's downfall, he sets out with Rhianne, a gangster-assassin named YuPao, and the sailors and fighters who are still loyal to House Deskata to drive the family that ruined his to their own ruin.This book seems to be a lot heavier on the world-building than previous books in the series, explaining a lot of the historical and political background in McNally's richly-developed world. These explanations kind of bring the story to a halt sometimes, but they're mostly pretty interesting, and help to understand the wars and rivalries that John and his crew find themselves entangled in. The last part of the book is non-stop action, with a powerful and unexpected ending.To me, the characters are the best part of the Norothian series. Here we learn more about John's forbidden love affair with his adopted sister Rhianne, meet Yu Pao, the gangster hired by John's backers to make sure he and Rhianne don't fall into the wrong hands, and, in my favorite parts, we're reunited with some of the characters from the first two books - Tilda and Zeb, now partners in love and business, and Phin, the wizard who has developed some unusual powers.Although some of the explanations about the world slowed the book down a bit, The Wind From Miilark is still an exciting and enjoyable installment in the Norothian series and I look forward to reading book 4.