For the first time, an Empress Redemptor sits on Aritsar's throne. To appease the sinister spirits of the dead, Tarisai must now anoint a council of her own, coming into her full power as a Raybearer. She must then descend into the Underworld, a sacrifice to end all future atrocities.
Tarisai is determined to survive. Or at least, that's what she tells her increasingly distant circle of friends. Months into her shaky reign as empress, child spirits haunt her, demanding that she pay for past sins of the empire.
With the lives of her loved ones on the line, assassination attempts from unknown quarters, and a handsome new stranger she can't quite trust . . . Tarisai fears the pressure may consume her. But in this finale to the Raybearer duology, Tarisai must learn whether to die for justice . . . or to live for it.
I loved Raybearer. It was one of my surprise hits of last year, and I was really eager to read the sequel. So I'm sorry I have to say, it didn't completely live up.
I say this in a lot of my reviews, but it never stops being true. Recaps. Raybearer released almost a year and a half ago. Even if I'd read nothing inbetween, I'd still have trouble remembering details from it, and there's very little recap in the story. We're reminded of Tari's mission and the function of the Ray is mentioned a few times, but people, relationships, even things like the Hallows I had completely forgotten inbetween. As always, this is specific to the proof, as the finished copy may well have a recap or reminder built in.
In my review of Raybearer I bemoaned the fact that we barely got to know most of the members of the Council and hoped that that might be fixed in the sequel. It isn't. If anything, the sequel makes it worse, adding a whole new council and some members of Tari's household. Her first Council even manages to overcome the magical prohibition on being apart, just so that they're not around and don't have to be dealt with. Most of her new Council is acquired off screen in the space of a paragraph. I adore the idea of the Council and I think it's used really effectively, but I do feel like Jordan just decided it should be this size and never thought about how to display that onscreen.
But I did enjoy the story, once I'd read enough to remember the things I needed to know. Jordan's language is fantastic and there's some wonderful twists here. I did feel that maybe a lot of time was spent on the leadup to Tari's mission, and not so much actually on it, but I think that's just a function of the way the story went.
I enjoyed this story and I'll be watching out for more by Jordan, as I do think she's a wonderful writer, and I loved all the little bits of mythology built into this series. I'll just be recommending people to read both together.
Redemptor publishes on the 16th of August in the US (top image) and on the 17th of August in the UK (lower image). I received a free copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest interview.
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