I told you. I was so unhappy with the ending of “Dragon Soul” that I just had to start the second book in the series right away.
The second book in B.J. Whittington’s series is pretty much in line with the first. The Volastoque are coming, only more frequently now, and in twos and threes instead of just one at a time. So far, the Palmir People have managed to keep the monsters at bay, but at great cost. There are a few deaths of minor characters and the main characters keep sustaining injury after injury. The question of course, is how long can they keep this up? If the Volastoque start coming more often, it’s unlikely that our heroes will have enough time to recover to face them again.
I think Whittington is pretty realistic about how much time it takes to heal, but it’s hard to tell because I sometimes have a hard time following just how much time has passed. As near as I can tell, the first book started late fall and the second book ended sometime in spring. They count moons when they refer to months, but they have two moons, so I’m not really sure how that works. Do you pick one moon to track and that’s how you know when a month has passed? Or do they just happen to be on orbits that complete at the same time? And instead of weeks, they count dramas, with a drama lasting nine days.
In that sense, I think Whittington has done a pretty good job of building her world. It has it’s own geography, time measurements, and customs. She even takes into account the fact that different tribes have different values and the clashes that can sometimes cause between people. There’s not a whole lot of in-fighting, though. Right now, they have bigger problems and just about everybody recognizes that.
The one thing I don’t get about their customs is all the adopting that goes on. The head family of the Vedic Clan has adopted two women so far, and I’m not sure why. They’re women. Not girls. They’re adults who have proven they are capable of taking care of themselves. The first woman gets adopted because she joined the clan without any family with her so she could marry her husband. Now her husband is dead and she has just given birth to their child, so the head family decide to adopt her so she’ll have a family. That’s sweet and all, but is it really necessary? I’ve never felt the need for any of my friends or neighbors to adopt me in order to support me and help me out when I need it. If that’s something unique to this world, then I think Whittington could have done a better job explaining that.
She also needs a better editor. The whole book is riddled with typos and misspellings and it drives me nuts. It especially bothers me because, aside from that, the books are awesome. I’m invested in this clan and I want the good guys to emerge victorious. I love the characters. Even the dragons have their own distinct personalities and some of the interplay between characters is priceless. If you’re the type who can’t handle a book that’s poorly edited, then I suggest you stay away from this series (at least the ebooks, which is what I’ve been reading). If that doesn’t bother you though, and you’re into dragons, then I would definitely recommend this series. It’s gripping and entertaining and pretty much everything I want out of a fantasy series.