Last of the Wilds

Age of the Five #2

by Trudi Canavan

After pitched battle, The White—the avatars of the Five Gods—have briefly turned back the vicious invaders. And now, the priestess Auraya is sent on an urgent mission to reconcile with the powerful, outcast Dreamweavers, for their magical healing abilities may be the key to saving the land. But as a deadly plague devastates their allies and old adversaries resurface, a dreadful surprise may ruin the chance for peace. For Auraya's terrible discovery will force her into a desperate choice—one whose consequences will change the world forever.

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, High Fantasy, Magic, Young Adult, Epic Fantasy, Romance

576 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published April 25, 2006

About the author

Trudi Canavan was born in Kew, Melbourne, and grew up in Ferntree Gully, a suburb at the foothills of the Dandenongs.

In 1999 she won the Aurealis Award for Best Fantasy Short Story with “Whispers of the Mist Children”. In the same year she was granted a writers residency at Varuna Writers’ Centre in Katoomba, New South Wales.

In November 2001, The Magicians’ Guild was first published in Australia. The second book of the trilogy, The Novice, was published in June 2002 and was nominated for the Aurealis Award for Best Fantasy Novel. The third book The High Lord was released in January 2003 and was nominated for the Best Novel Ditmar category. All three books entered Australian top ten SF bestseller lists.

The Black Magician Trilogy reached the international market in 2004, published by HarperCollins’ EOS imprint in North America and Orbit Books in the UK. The trilogy is now rated by Nielsen BookScan as the most successful debut fantasy series of the last 10 years.

Trudi’s second trilogy, Age of the Five, has also enjoyed bestselling success. Priestess of the White reached No.3 in the Sunday Times hardback fiction bestseller list, staying in the top ten for six weeks.

In early 2006 Trudi signed a seven-figure contract with Orbit to write the prequel and sequel to the Black Magician Trilogy. The prequel, The Magician’s Apprentice was released in 2009 and won the Best Fantasy Novel category of the Aurealis Awards.

Reviews

[Tonielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok, so there is definitely a pattern with Trudi Canavan's books that seem to apply to each series.

Main female character is accepted into higher social/religious/political standing because of her unexpectedly high level of skills/powers. Once she comes into her powers fully, she defies her superiors, breaks rules, rebels for the sake of truth and because it's the right thing to do while still remaining on the good side of the other important characters as much as possible. Meanwhile she falls in love with the most unlikely and unsuitable main male character who is often her mentor first.

Funny thing is, this isn't a bad thing as the formula works and the stories are always intriguing. Last of the Wilds is definitely a middle book but not in a negative way. It would likely be confusing and probably disappointing for most readers had they not read 'Priestess of the White' and decide not to continue on to 'Voice of the Gods'. However, I found the story getting deeper and more complex and can't wait to start the final book in the trilogy. 'Last of the Wilds' builds up from the first book in the trilogy and the conclusion, I have a feeling, is going to be explosive. Here's hoping!

[Olivia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Last of the Wilds is the second book in the Age of Five trilogy, and it's much, much, MUCH slower than the first instalment, but the Age of the Five is so rich in lore and history that I gave an extra star for the worldbuilding.
I really like fantasy that explore religion and gods, especially when the gods might not always be benevolent (or honest), and when it comes to that aspect the Age of Five series really delivers.

[Joby Walker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Both worse and better than the first.

The Good
--------------------------------------
Some characters of interest: The Hag, Mirar, and Reivan are all interesting characters that work toward an interesting future and reveal the past.

Background: Finally near the end of the novel we learn more about the background of the War of the Gods and the Wilds. Really the most interesting part of the novel.

Interesting moral conflict: finally at the end of the novel we get a moral dilemma that is interesting (even though Auraya is painful).

The Bad
--------------------------------------
Auraya: OMG she is so boring

Imi: The spoiled princess that gets into serious trouble because of her innocence/selfishness and then grows...ugh

Pace: The first half to two thirds of the novel are very slow with a few pits of interest that make it worth the while.

Will be reading the third book soon.

[The Fantasy Review · Rating 5 out of 5]

SPOILER FREE
The plot in Last of the Wilds, the second entry of The Age of Five Trilogy by Trudi Canavan is a lot slower than the first, but it’s rich in lore, history, magic, and character development.

This is a book about discovery, rather than epic fantasy battles and war like The Priestess of the White.

AURAYA’S JOURNEY IN LAST OF THE WILDS IS DIFFICULT FOR HER
She spends so much of it fighting an uphill battle (metaphorically) and for a while it doesn’t feel like she’s going anywhere.

Auraya does, however, come into her own eventually and watching her grow even more as a character was brilliant to see.

LEIARD AND EMERAHL’S PLOTLINES ARE MY FAVOURITE
They are the reason I have rated Last of the Wilds so highly. Some of the mysteries and secrets touched upon in the previous book are revealed, and for others there are more clues.

Emerahl makes this book so much fun as her plot is driven entirely by her – not the events around her. She does what she wants and gets what she wants too.

Reivan is introduced to us in this book, and because of that we get to see the other side. Her plot is quite dark, but she is strong and the way her story develops is brilliant.

As the middle book, Last of the Wilds suffers a little from sagging in the middle, but not too much – the characters bring the world and story to life and you will find the book over before you know it.

View the full review at The Fantasy Review

[Charlie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just as amazing as I remembered, 5 stars! The narration was great, the story was epic and I just love Emrahl so much! She's my absolute favourite and I wish Trudi Canavan would write a whole series just about her adventures.

[Kasia (kasikowykurz) · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐

Jest lepsza, niż pierwszy tom, ale to wciąż nie do końca to. Początek tak mnie wciągnął, że na jednym posiedzeniu przesłuchałam 1/3 książki, potem złapałam jakiś zastój i powoli szłam na przód, żeby na końcu jednak trochę zaciskać zęby, bo te ostatnie godziny audio wlokła mi się niemiłosiernie. Najbardziej podobała mi się akcja z samym Leiardem - nie dość, że było najciekawsze, to najbardziej zapadło w pamięć. Z całą resztą bywało różnie. Boli mnie też, jak bardzo nierówne są te książki.

[Choco Con Churros · Rating 4 out of 5]

Con razón se titula La hechicera indómita, con ese final. Qué bien!. Con uno de esos finales que te lleva a correr a por el siguiente, esta saga sigue siendo mi favorita de la autora hasta ahora.
Sus personajes están mucho mejor trazados, su universo tiene muchísimos más detalles, lo que facilita un montón la inmersión en la historia y su trama es notablemente más compleja e interesante.
Ha quedado en lo más emocionante. Tengo muchas ganas de seguir. GL (Autor. Trudi Canavan)

[Nicole]

Ich habe mich tatsächlich sehr über das Wiedersehen mit bekannten Figuren und das Kennenlernen neuer gefreut. Es gab einige interessante Wendungen. Die fast 800 Seiten fühlen sich sehr kurzweilig an. Ich freue mich auch schon auf den letzten Teil der Reihe, der hier schon bereit liegt.

[Širšė Širšė · Rating 4 out of 5]

O aš neplanavau skaityti antros dalies... Pradžia išvis suintrigavo, mat prasidėjo knyga pasakojimo pratęsimu iš nugalėtų blogiečių perspektyvos. Oho, pamaniau, o gal ir visa knyga bus tokia? Bet ne. Tik prie pirmojoje dalyje buvusių veikėjų dar prisijungė ir keli iš priešingos stovyklos pusės.
Ir tai buvo... keista. Pabandysiu paaiškinti:
„Geriečiai“ ratiečiai – „Blogiečiai“ pentadrijiečiai
Turi penkis dievus – turi penkis dievus
Bažnyčią valdo penki stiprūs kerėtojai „baliteji“ – bažnyčią valdo penki stiprūs kerėtojai „balsai“
Baltieji turi po patarėją – balsai turi po tarną (aka patarėją)
Politinis galios centras yra baltieji – politinis galios centras yra balsai
Baltieji nemirtingi, bet gali būti nužudyti – balsai nemirtingi, bet gali būti nužudyti
Bažnyčios atstovai žyniai taip pat turi magiškų galių – bažnyčios atstovai tarnai taip pat turi magiškų galių
Sveikinasi ore nubėždami ratą – sveikinasi ore nubrėždami penkiakampę žvaigždę

Skamba kaip fantastinio pasaulio replikavimas (kitaip tinginystė) arba kaip laaaabai didelis šautuvas ant sienos. Patrankos dydžio.

O bet tačiau, su pasauliu jau pakankamai artimai buvo susipažinta pirmojoje dalyje, todėl antrojoje daug daugiau dėmesio skirta veikėjų istorijims. Iš esmės pasakojimas nusistovi ties keturiomis linijomis: Aurajos, Elajiečių princesės, pentadrijiečių tarnaitės ir Miraro. Kadangi nė vienas iš jų nestovi vietoje, tai veiksmas pakankamai dinamiškas ir, paeiliui stebint kiekvieną iš paminėtų linijų, galima sakyti nenutrūkstantis. Be to visai smagiai atrodo pagrindinių veikėjų Aurajos ir Miraro virsmai ir savęs paieškos.

Trumpai tariant labai smagiai ir greitai perskaičiau – buvo neblogas atotrūkis nuo realybės :)

[Maria · Rating 4 out of 5]

The action in 'Last of the Wilds' maybe wasn't full of twists and rapid changes of situation but I think it was a necessary manipulation. Why is that?
Well... firstly because of that the reader can finally take a closer look at normal life of our characters. I, for example, thought it's not that great to be one of the Whites... even boring sometimes. And that's it! By creating such atmosphere of things moving slowly the author succeeded in giving the whole story more authenticity.
Besides, I started to notice that Auraya is not God's favourite after all. Especially Huan, for some reason, wishes to put her loyalty to the proof. She wants Auraya to kill her beloved Mirar... or Leiard or Willar xD Even though the White claims that she had feelings only for Leiard and he is not existing anymore she is not capable of killing him. A big surprise for me was the resignation of the main character. Auraya thinks that she had failed and cannot be the White anymore. She moves into the shadows and decides to sacrifice her whole life for the case of the Siyee.
As for Mirar and Emerahl I thought they were lovers (from what was written before) but the book reveals something slightly different. Yes, there was physical love between those two but only at the level of friendship. Well... happens. There is something going on though, memories of the past which only they as the Wilds know, secrets... and also hatred for the Gods. Their friendship has over 1000 years, they have to be very close, that is obvious.
The plot is leading us towards unknown and it becomes more and more intriguing.

[AnnaSeemsSoSmall · Rating 4 out of 5]

At times war das Buch ein bisschen langatmig und ich musste mich morgens in der S-Bahn zwingen, weiterzulesen (anstatt HayDay zu spielen, ist auch krasse Konkurrenz).

Aber die Welt, die die Autorin erschaffen hat ist zu einzigartig, um eine schlechtere Bewertung zu schreiben. Außerdem LIEBE ich es, dass unser Main Character einen tatsächlichen moralischen Konflikt durchlebt und sich so authentisch weiterentwickelt! Ich liebe auch, wie sich die Geschichte entwickelt und Freunde und Anführer nicht zu Verrätern, aber (bisher) zu egoistischen Individuen werden. Ich stehe auf Desillusionierung 😎

[Lucia · Rating 4 out of 5]

plot-wise it suffers a bit from middle-book of a trilogy syndrome. also the... let's say romantic subplot with mirar felt entirely pointless to me - left me emotionally completely cold and the plot impact is negligible.
however: i like where it's going thematically. what if the gods you've dedicated your entire life to turn out to be cruel. wouldn't that be fucked up?
auraya is a better person than me because i would NOT have left that gracefully.
hope the last book comfirms my one theory that i've had since the beginning because it would just make the themes even more delicious.

[books_by_brunette · Rating 4 out of 5]

3,5

[That One Ryan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I desperately want to like this series, because all the elements are there. Magic, war, unique to her world races, love affairs, Gods, etc. It just seems Canavan has no idea what to do with these elements, and the writing is just so sub par it's hard to read. Her races all have the same mannerisms and characteristics. They have nothing unique about them other then the way they look, and yet two of the races are mostly cut off completely from the human world. Their culture and mannerisms and dialogue would not be the same. He Gods act like humans, etc. In fact every single character in the book is pretty much the same. They all react in the same way, they all speak the same way. They are all one dimensional with little to no growth. The main protagonist Auraya has some growth, but it happens so suddenly at the end of the book that it feels completely un-realistic and out of place. My biggest strife with this particular book was that nothing of importance happened at all until the very end fourth of the book, and even then, it was mild and lagged on. I understand that the middle book in a trilogy is typically the least action packed, but this one was just plain boring to me. It took far too long for me to finish simply because I grew bored so quickly. I know that Canavan is a well liked author in the fantasy genre, but for the life of me based on this series, I cannot understand how. I know that this is only her second series, and it was written a long time ago, so I am hopeful that she has gotten better with time. I truly think she has good ideas and strong stories, but the writing and the piecing of those ideas together is lacking strongly so far.

[Ana · Rating 4 out of 5]

4*

Vídeo de Opinião em: https://youtu.be/kk7QUDmdtbU

Aqui temos o universo do primeiro livro a ser expandido e mais explorado quando nos deparamos com novas perspetivas diferentes. Mais uma boa fantasia que nos deixa curiosos com o que aí vem.

[JBooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

Band 2 war wesentlich interessanter, als Band 1

[Jana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Spannend und noch mal um einiges besser als Teil eins.

Natürlich ist Auraya immer noch etwas naiv, aber sie hat sich sehr weiterentwickelt. Innerhalb weniger Kapitel hat sie geschafft, Huan zu hinterfragen und offen zu trotzen und sich schlussendlich sogar von ihrer Position als Weiße befreit! Ich hoffe zwar, dass sie das nicht selbst in Gefahr bringen wird, aber spätestens wenn Emerahl ihr zeigt, eine Unsterbliche zu werden, wird das natürlich geschehen. Auf jeden Fall eine sehr zufriedenstellende Charakterentwicklung. Vielleicht besteht sogar etwas Hoffnung für andere Weiße – natürlich abgesehen von Rian.

Der nächste Band klingt also sehr vielversprechend. Auraya wird sich sicher noch weiter entwickeln und mehr über die Götter lernen, bis sie sich ihnen am Ende hoffentlich sogar entgegenstellt. Auch die Schriftrolle und die damit einhergehende Möglichkeit, die Götter zu töten, klingt sehr gut.
Man darf auch nicht vergessen, dass wir im letzten Band bestimmt endlich die wahre Geschichte hinter dem Krieg der Götter, den alten Göttern und dem Wesen der zirklischen und pentadrianischen Göttern herausfinden werden.
Ich freue mich schon darauf!

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

The pacing was still weird (and as much as I want to like Auraya, she's generally the least exciting POV), but we got more into the background - and you know how much I love background info - and learn more about what's going on with the gods and some of the characters (Mirar!). Definitely looking forward to the last book.

[Mieneke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Last of the Wilds is the second book in the Age of the Five trilogy, after Priestess of the White . Where I had a hard time getting into the book with the first one in the series, with Last of the Wilds I got sucked in immediately. This was partly because it's the second book in the series – the story doesn't need as much set up, plus I wanted to know what happened next after the events of book one – and partly because the prologue was captivating and written from the point of view of one of my favourite characters of the book, Reivan.

One of the things I noted for Priestess of the White was the fact that because they are given no voice of their own, the Pentadrians remain mysterious. This mystery makes them seem far scarier that they perhaps are and more evil, because it allows the Circlians to ascribe all manner of nastiness to them, and neither the ordinary Circlians nor the reader know any better. In Last of the Wilds this ignorance is remedied through Reivan. Reivan is a Thinker, an inventor/scientist, who was drafted into the Pentadrian army. We meet her and the rest of the surviving Pentadrian army as they travel back from the battle that ended the last book. I loved Reivan's voice and her enquiring mind; she's analytical, logical and practical. At the same time, Reivan loves her gods and one of her major regrets is not having any Skills and so not being able to become a Servant of the gods. When she comes to the attention of Second Voice Imenja, she is unexpectedly given the opportunity to become a Servant regardless of being unSkilled and so we follow her into the Sanctuary and get to see the Pentadrian side of life, much as we got to know the Circlian side of life through Auraya in the previous book.

In many ways, Reivan is the Pentadrian mirror to Auraya. Both are young women elevated to unexpected positions and provide the reader with a window on the inner workings of their respective religions. Both have inquisitive minds and ask critical questions, both of themselves and others. They both encounter 'new' races—Auraya the Siyee and Reivan the Elai. It’ll be interesting to see how closely Reivan's storyline will mirror Auraya's in the next book, as it will mean some hard choices for Reivan, judging from those Auraya has to make in this one. It is difficult to discuss Auraya's development in detail as it will contain too many spoilers for the book, but she makes some life-altering choices, which I really respected. Reivan and Auraya also reinforce the sense of similarity between the Circlian and Pentadrian religions and make it plain that all is not as it seems with the gods. At times Canavan makes this point a little too strongly, almost hitting the reader over the head with it, though that might just be my perception as I'd already read this book once before and as such already had some inkling of it.

Next to Reivan's additional point of view, we also get new points of view from Mirar and from Imi. Both of them are familiar from the previous book, but in Last of the Wilds we get active points of view from them. Both of them give added perspectives, Mirar on the history of those who opposed the gods and Imi on Elai society and the Pentadrians. I really enjoyed these new viewpoints, especially Imi's; they also give us more knowledge of the different cultures as we're shown new places in Ithania. Together with Emerahl's storyline, we get a comprehensive overview of Ithania's map and peoples. The religious aspect is also deepened by the three of them. Mirar tells stories of the gods, that the gods might not want spread and so gives us more information, Imi learns about the Pentadrian gods, after knowing only the worship of Huan, and gives a refreshing perspective on inclusiveness – if they're not harming anyone, why mind their existence – and Emerahl encounters yet a new form of religion during her travels, the cult of the Maker, which is basically moving toward a monotheistic form of worship. It'll be interesting to learn what this development will mean for the Five, whether the Circlian or Pentadrian ones, and their peoples. Will it mean harmony, as they unite against it, or yet more strife?

As a second book Last of the Wilds is a strong entry in the series. In fact, I'd say I liked this book better than Priestess of the White as it's more even-paced and moves the story on quite a bit. It'll be fascinating to see where Canavan takes Ithania's story, especially as I've never read the final book in the trilogy, Voice of the Gods, before. Canavan has set up some pretty major plot points to be resolved in this last book, such as the true nature of the Five, the fate of the Wilds, the uneasy peace between Circlians and Pentadrians, the rise of the Cult of the Maker and of course the fate of all of our main characters. I hope the ending is as good as I'm expecting, but if Last of the Wilds is any indication, Voice of the Gods will deliver a great ending.

[Takeitorleaveit · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.75

[Monika · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid read, very good. I'm curious what will happen next.

[Saskia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Obwohl ich den ersten Teil beim ersten mal Lesen so sehr geliebt habe, hat es recht lange gedauert bis ich mich an den zweiten gewagt habe. Und dann hab ich nach 153 Seiten einfach nicht mehr weiter gelesen ... Ich kann auch verstehen warum, denn der zweite Teil führt nicht nur neue Figuren & Handlungen ein, sondern lässt dafür vor allem auch meine geliebten Siyee hinter sich. Dadurch geht die Geschichte in eine völlig andere Richtung als ich es erwartet habe. Das ist es aber auch, was die Reihe für mich so besonders macht.

Es gibt viele unterschiedliche Perspektiven, die zu Beginn nichts mit einander zu tun haben oder man weiß nicht, inwiefern sie zur Handlung später mal beitragen könnten. Doch nach und nach sieht man nicht nur lose Fäden, sondern ein wunderschönes Spinnennetz. Es passt einfach.

Dieses Mal spielen die Pentadrianer und Elai eine größere Rolle, doch auch die Siyee muss man nicht missen. Diese dienen dieses Mal allerdings "nur" als Schauplatz. Die Elai hingegen haben mich nicht ganz überzeugt. Ich kann mir nicht wirklich vorstellen, wie sie leben und so sympathisch wie die Siyee wirken sie auch nicht. :(
Da man eher aus der Sicht der Weißen liest, hinterfragt man die Pentadrianer doch etwas kritischer, wobei sie mir als Religion um einiges mehr gefallen als die Zirkler. Vor allem gegen Ende.
Und genau das ist das überraschende an dem Buch: es geht um den Glauben. Wie rechtfertigt man eine Religion und wie weit darf die Liebe zu ihr gehen? Muss man ihr blind folgen? Ist es in Ordnung im Namen diesen Glaubens die Regeln, die durch den Glauben entstanden sind zu brechen? Die kritische Auseinandersetzung mit mit diesen Fragen, sei es auch nur indirekt, haben mich ungemein beeindruckt. Das Zeitalter der Fünf ist keine Reihe, die durch eine ausgeklügelte Welt, Magie oder epische Schlachten besticht. Hier geht es viel mehr um den Konflikt zwischen Religionen und Minderheiten. Um richtig und falsch, schwarz und weiß.
Wie zuvor würde ich am liebsten nur von den Traumwebern und Leiard lesen. Ich finde sie so faszinierend und würde gerne mehr über ihre Fähigkeiten erfahren. Desto mehr tut es mir leid, wie sie behandelt werden, denn die Traumweber sind nicht nur eine Minderheit, sondern mit die friedlichsten Menschen die es gibt.

Das Ende des zweiten Bandes ist doch ein wenig gemein, weswegen ich dieses mal wirklich nicht so lange warten kann den nächsten Band zu verschlingen.

[Duffy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book 2... nicely written but a little vague. When I was reading, i seems that i was jumping from one story to the next. But it is not something i dislike, after all, the story of the age of the five consists of multiple characters, too many not to be mentioned. It would surely spoil the entire story if none of the characters were explained or stated properly.

I have come to love Auraya since I first read the first book. To me, she is simple much more than the Gods thinks she is and I like the way her character grew in the story. She loved, sacrificed everything she ought and came out more from it. I wonder what will happen to her next? As for Mirar/Leiard... his love for Auraya, I know will never falter. I just hope he doesn't die anytime soon. The title does give out the true meaning of the story... it stated destiny demands sacrifice... if you were in this kind of position, how much sacrifice will you be able to give out?

I know now that story is not just about a simple love story, a single character... it is a story with political intents, power, love, hate, prejudice, racism and more. Trudi Canavan did really great. I hope to get the other books soon so I can read them and finally finish the story.

[bibliophilic_wanderer · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the continuation of me rereading Trudi Canavan's Age of the Five series. While I didn't enjoy this book as much as I wanted to, I still flew through it since the plot and setting is familiar to me from reading it in the past.

I definitely have some criticism, such as the simplistic writing style and the random side plots of characters that feel like main characters but then are never seen again in the next book(s). The reuniting of Auraya and her love interest was also far more rushed than I remembered. That plot is the most interesting and they are clearly the main characters of the book, besides Emerahl, but we didn't get to send nearly enough time to establish their relationship, which is due to the annoying time skips.

I will say though that the plot is even more fast-paced than in book 1, with a lot of moving parts. I like that we get to see the POV of the other side so that you're left wondering who's the actual bad guy. I love the character development of Auraya in the last few pages and looking forward to the final installment in the series where she completely deconstructs her worldview.

[Jessica Eck · Rating 3 out of 5]

So I was hoping the characters would gain some depth in book 2, unfortunately they didn't.

Although it was interesting to get to know the opposite side to the Circlians, they were very much like the Circlians. The characters were boring, especially Auraya, the main character. Due to the dullness of the characters, even the interesting parts of the stories were kind of boring and I was actually bored during large parts of the book. Mirar is the only halfway interesting character, but none of them really differentiates from the others, even the gods don't really behave differently from everyone else. Mischief was the only one who actually made me smile whenever he was there. Unfortunately, there wasn't much of him.

There's a lot of potential, I like the world building, I like the story, but the execution is, at best, mediocre.

It's more like 2.5 stars than 3. It's not bad, but it's also far from good.

Towards the end the book became a little more interesting and there's hope that the last volume will be better than this one. That's actually the only reason I will listen to the last audio book.

[Nirkatze · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this entry, even more than I remembered--and even more than the first book. The addition of two more POVs broadens out the world--finally getting that Pentadarian viewpoint makes a big difference! And we also learn of the Elai, and meet more Immortals... a lot going on in this book.

I also really enjoyed Auraya's story this entry. She came across very naive and blindly obedient in the last book--but in this one she is faced with a crisis of faith that really helps her define what she believes is right. It also helps that the messy relationship issues are mostly tuned down this book--or maybe it's that the relationship plotlines are less emo in this entry, and there are more thoughtful inner conversations and soul-searching on the topic.

[Anke · Rating 1 out of 5]

I had to struggle to read through this book. Only because I already was invested in the world and the overall story did i continue reading this book. I love how religion and magic is connected in this world. Very well worked out consequences of religion fanatics, how heathens are treated and how gods can abuse their power. So why did I struggle? the 'love' parts had me very anoyed and left me thinking the book would be better without it.

[Jody Mena · Rating 5 out of 5]

Way better than the first book. Mirar is a way better character than Leiard ever could have been (sorry Leiard). I always wonder if Leiard was the reason that the first book seemed so dry, and whether or not Canavan did that on purpose to underscore the incomplete nature of his character. Genius if true! Anywho, great book!

[Choko · Rating 5 out of 5]

*** 4.67 ***

[Carina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Typically I am not a huge fan of second books in a trilogy - most of the time they don't serve much purpose except to set things up for the final act (i.e. book) but this one I found to be an actual story in its own right. I really wish I knew whether I thought that the first few times I read the book or not... given I rated this three stars back in 2012 clearly I didn't think that much of it though.

Potentially the reason I enjoyed this more this time around was because I was waiting for pretty much all of the events that happen in this book to happen! If you read my blanked out section of todays' Priestess of the White review you'll know I was looking forward to (and again spoilers beware): Imi being captured and returned home, Chaia seducing and then warning Auraya, and the end of book revelation that Auraya is actually a new Wild all three of those things happen here! For me, having those moments finally happen, it made this a really satisfying read.

That said, this book does fall into the fault of being a second book and therefore leaves more hanging than Priestess of the White did. Will Mirar and Auraya ever reunite? Will Emerahl manage to teach Auraya and save her from the wrath of the gods? What will the rest of the White do? What will happen next with the Pentadrian's? Although I recall a couple of those answers I don't recall the ones that are really key to the plot, so I'll be going into the final book with less foreknowledge (or should that be memory?) of upcoming events.

In terms of this book, the plot escalates well from Priestess of the White. Even though it was subtly done a lot of the framework for this book was laid out well in advance. You can totally understand the motivations of Auraya, Mirar and the other major characters. I also really liked how developed the Pentadrians are. Given they are new people to this series they feel as real and well rounded as Auraya does.

I'm sort of regretting bumping Priestess of the White up to 5 stars now as I feel that this book was the better one on this read... I'll retroactively change the first book to 4.5 (rounded to 5 as we can't give half-stars on GR) and this then gets the 5 star spot. Not sure what I'll do if I think the third and final book is the best but still. That's an issue for future me to work out!