“Myths and Mortals,” the second book of the Numina series, picks up where the previous book left off, only the opposition has his eye on a new, dangerous target. It’s a quick read, multi-layered, and distinct.
Review of Myths and Mortals
Seguing straight into Sandis’s new life with her uncle, Myths and Mortals benefits from much less endless running and more actual dealing with problems. More character development, too. The story takes a fun turn when Sandis finds out that life with her uncle isn’t what she’d hoped it would be—and that her nemesis is still alive and as dastardly as ever. Maybe more…
Thankfully, Sandis becomes much more independent in this volume. Rone shows some serious commitment to her (and still constantly pulls his hair). However… both characters display extreme emotional reactions to everything that happens, which I found colorful but exhausting. Lots of angst going here. It’s a relief , though, to see our heroine resisting Rone’s overtures after his actions in Book 1. While Sandis often acts helpless and does not know what to do next, at least she has some self-respect, and she eventually stands up for her choices and follows them whether anyone is coming with her or not.
Kazen’s devious pursuit of World Domination continues. The glimpses we have of him in action are brief (too brief) and a little baffling. The frames of reference are a little too thin. The result was the portrayal of a madman. Maybe he is!?
It is a conundrum that the setting becomes clearer in this sequel, but the promise of a rich ancient culture only gets mention when it can’t be avoided. Who were the Noscon people? What happened to them? I like the fact that they left an indelible print, that their stories—and their magic—are rare. The magic system of the world itself is (again) a nice change from the usual fantasy fare, and the glimpse into the truth of the “nether” world is intriguing.
The demon Ireth gets a new vessel, and I found the character conveniently cooperative. Is he that self-sacrificing, or just unable to do any real thinking on his own? He comes across as handy but pale means of getting Sandis close to Ireth again.
The cliffhanger was almost awesome, bringing some of the foreshadowing from Book 1 to fruition. Too bad I am not a fan of such heavy-handed cliffhangers.
While I feel that books one and two could have been combined into one volume (and cut out a lot of the running and the repetitive angst), Holmberg’s writing style still managed to pull me through the entire book in a single night. All in all, it’s a good story and a fun change of pace.
Summary
Sandis has escaped Kazen’s grasp, but she finds herself unmoored, reeling from her thief friend Rone’s betrayal.
Kazen has been hurt but not stopped, and he’ll do anything to summon the monster that could lay waste to the entire world. Sandis knows she must be the one to stop him, but with her own trusted numen now bound to another, and finding herself with no one she can trust, she is in desperate need of allies. Rone seems determined to help her, but Sandis has no intention of letting him get close to her again. What she doesn’t know is how much Rone gave up to protect her. Or how much more he is willing to give up to keep her safe.
As chaos mounts, Sandis must determine whom to trust. After all, the lines between enemy and ally have never been less clear…and corruption lurks in the most unlikely of places.
This book is for you if you:
- Don’t mind angst and really emotional descriptions
- Enjoy chase scenes and a little mystery
This book is not for you if you:
- Don’t like scenes of torture/murder (harvesting humans for body parts), minor scenes of cutting people
Be sure to see my review of Smoke and Summons, the first book in the Numinia series!
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