Book Review / "A Dread of Blight and Ruin" by Laura Maybrooke

A Dread of Blight and Ruin by Laura Maybrooke

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Winning one battle doesn’t necessarily bring you a victory in a war. Garth must embrace this truth, no matter how unmotivating, quickly. Even though he emerged victorious, with the help of a powerful ally, having defeated one enemy, a much greater fight looms on the horizon. The one where Garth must protect the peace and freedom of the whole continent.

“A Dread of Blight and Ruin” by Laura Maybrooke, the second book in the Shadows Across the Ages series, has the same old-school fantasy quest vibe I liked in book one. The stakes are high, the characters seem unfit for the task they cannot fail to fulfil, and new, seemingly insurmountable obstacles get thrown their way to stop them. Still, they push forward, despite their fears and sometimes common sense whispering into their ears that they must give up.

I really appreciated the increased role, compared to what it was in the first book, that Dulcea and Lord Krath played in this book. They are an intriguing couple, and I didn’t want their story to end with the ending of the Dulcea’s Rebellion trilogy. I also enjoyed visiting the Silver Elves' capital, as well as descending underground to see how the Mist Elves live after the blow they received for their help in the liberation war led by Dulcea two centuries ago.

While reading, I thought about why some people always hide their heads in the sand no matter what happens around them, while others step forward to try to help. For the first, I think, the driving force may be either egoism or the unwillingness to leave their families and loved ones should they perish in the battle. But the motivation of the ‘heroes’ is more varied. Some seek glory and people’s admiration they might have lacked in their lives. Others are genuinely concerned about the well-being of the whole world and cannot stand aside when they see that something is threatening it. There are also those for whom jumping into the heat of an impossible mission is like air; they cannot live without it and would wither away without action.

To which group does Garth belong? I don’t have an answer to this question. On the one hand, he undertook the role of the one who fights against the horrible threat voluntarily, without expecting a reward. He doesn’t seem to expect to ever be taken by Elves, his mother’s people, as one of them. He has accepted his half-blood origins and the consequences of never belonging to either race fully. But on the other hanA Dread of Blight and RuinA Dread of Blight and RuinA Dread of Blight and RuinA Dread of Blight and Ruind, he craves to become the dragonlord of the Bronze Dragons and seems to be elated by the respect it brings.

I am looking forward to seeing how Garth evolves personally while fighting to save the world from not one but two enemies, one of which seems to be more than anything people, elves, and other creatures had faced before.



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