February 1, 2010
Book two in Michelle West's House War series starts with Angel's quest to complete the mission of his exiled father, and then takes a sharp turn when he meets up with Jewel and her "den"-a self-chosen tribe of street urchins, precocious by necessity. Angel all but fades into the background for the rest of the book while we follow Jewel's efforts to feed her adopted charges and keep them safe even as the undercity where they scavenge for saleable goods becomes a source of supernatural danger. Then Old Rath, Jewel's sometime-mentor, takes center stage with his mission to kill demons and to expose their infiltration of the ranks of the powerful-something he can do only by dying and allowing an impersonator to try to fool his estranged sister, now the head of a powerful clan. He pulls off a posthumous coup to protect Jewel and her visions. West's point-of-view shifts are vertiginous. No doubt over the course of the series all these threads will intertwine, but new readers are likely to be feel frustrated by all the loose ends left hanging in the meantime.
February 15, 2010
Self-exiled from the powerful House Terafin, the man called Rath rescues Jewel, an orphan girl who, in turn, rescues other children and brings them to Rath and safety. When the disappearances of children in the city of Averalaan hit close to home, Rath sends Jewel to his sister, head of House Terafin, while he joins with mages from the Order of Knowledge to combat a demonic threat to the Essalieyan Empire. The sequel to "The Hidden City" weaves together many plot threads and expands the cast of characters to include a young man bent on completing his dead father's quest. VERDICT Well written with strong young people taking center stage, this is a good fantasy series for young adults as well as adult readers.
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