Lorelle of the Dark by Todd Fahnestock
My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

This was a fun, action-packed sequel to Khyven the Unkillable. While I didn't devour this story quite as quickly as the first, it had plenty of twists and turns to keep me fully engaged. As the name suggests, Lorelle is at the heart of this tale, and Fahnestock has given her one heck of an internal conflict. SPOILER ALERT FOR BOOK 1: At the end of the first book, Lorelle literally rips her soul in half to save Khyven's life. Now, the burning shreds of her tattered soul are driving her insane. While I totally believed this distressing state would cause her to act irrationally, I did sometimes get annoyed at her choices and the degree to which she excluded her friends. But then, heroes are supposed to be flawed. Otherwise they couldn't grow. :)

Fahnestock's richly-woven world continues to expand as Lorelle and the found family looking to bring her home uncover hidden histories and interact with more creatures from the noktum. There isn't a whole lot of forward progress made to the overall series plotline, though we do get peeks at potentially important events. Lorelle's adventure feels a little more localized . . . like a personal, one-off adventure between more central quests.

I enjoyed the secondary story arc of the Glimmerblade Zaith, with whom Lorelle spends most of the book. I truly felt for his predicament. I don't want to give anything away here, but I have some definite opinions about how his arc turned out. The other characters in the book, carryovers from book 1, are pleasant to spend more time with. Khyven is much the same as he was at the end of book 1, but Slayter and Vahn both grow as characters in this second installment. I'm looking forward to reading book 3: Rhenn The Traveler.

View all my reviews