Review: The Firetouched (Firebrand Book 2) by D. E. Olesen

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 education and spells, I would say he learns a lot more from his own adventures than his actual classes in this book, but either way there's a steady progression of interesting magic use and spells, and even lore about Morcaster, the Lyceum, and their history to go with it. In book 1 I found it at times a little slow when he was going about his daily routines, but in this book I think those routines were better integrated into the overall plotlines and motivations that he had and I thought the pace was a bit better. Or perhaps now that I know it myself, I'm just more invested overall. I certainly want to know what's in store for Martel and his friends and even the Empire in general. 

I'll definitely be excited to dive back into this world with the third book once I get the chance. If you haven't checked out the first book, start there first, but if you have, you're sure to enjoy this second book!