The drums had stopped. Now only screams and sobs could be heard over the sounds of destruction. The city had been built to withstand attack, but nothing could withstand the wrath of the shape-shifters.
Kir's Fury is the second book in the Godeena Codex. I loved the first book, Godeena, which stood well enough on its own with a satisfying story that wrapped up nicely, but I was definitely thrilled when I found out the author had written a second book. Because I wanted to dive in right away, I decided not to re-read Godeena, and this showed me that Kir's Fury also works fairly well as a stand alone, though of course, I would still recommend reading Godeena first! This book has a much wider focus, showing us many different planets, characters from various different civilizations, and all kinds of interesting tech levels and even some supernatural powers. It felt epic in scale, which I really loved. It starts on the planet Godeena, six years after the events of the first book, and starts with the archaeologist Diana and her team doing their explorations of that planet, trying to uncover the secrets of the lost civilization that once inhabited it. What they uncover exposes a t...
Miss Percy's Guide to the Restoration of Dragons is a wonderful conclusion to this trilogy. The ever-growing cast of excellent characters that feel so real continues to grow, bringing more great characters and also giving more depth to some of the characters that were already introduced in the previous two volumes. This book is full of adventure and difficult situations for Mildred and the others, so much so that I felt intense anger and stress for her future at times, but it's also full of that same cozy vibe that permeated the other two. With this series the coziness stems from the character interactions and the fact that even though it's a book about dragons you can see similarities and connections to very real behaviours that a pet or child might display. The way Mildred cares for the dragons - and for everyone else around her, really - is so reminiscent of a mother or other caregiver worrying about and caring for their kids, which makes it all so believable in t...
Firebrand Book 2: The Fire-Touched is an excellent follow-up to the first book. It continues the story of Martel as he completes his first year at the Lyceum, hoping that by the end of it, he'll finally pass the novice stage and become an acolyte like the others his age. As this is the second book Martel has become more comfortable at the school and with the surrounding city and I also enjoyed sinking comfortably back into this well-built world with Martel. I enjoyed this second installment almost more than I did the first. Martel's characterization is consistent with the first one, and he continues to get himself into tough situations and put himself into danger to help others, but by now he has his feet under him a bit more and is better able to handle the situations he gets into - and pick out friends from foes from people who are trying to use him. There's lots of great character work not only for Martel, but also some of the side-characters. In terms of his magical e...