Elven escapades on ice and snow hiding a much darker secret.
In this novel we pick up the story five hundred years after the Summertime Circus troupe retrieved the magic Stone Scrolls from the Shadow Elves. Minding these scrolls has weakened their magic, just as it had done for the Gray Kingdom all those years ago.
Isayah’s twin brother, Osuah, discovers the scrolls have been stolen from the Summertime Circus, along with his youngling daughter. The quest begins to not only return her and the scroll, but to free those still enslaved by dark magic.
S L Dooley’s writing is wonderful with costumes made of living moths, Osuah’s ability to overlay a map in his mind with the terrain before him to find the way, and bread infused with wisdom with every kneading stroke giving the eater much needed energy and joy.
We meet the Cold Moon Carnival troupe: elven escapades on ice and snow, whose performance, antics and magic will not disappoint any fantasy reader. But will they rise to the challenge of assisting the Summertime Circus in finding Ousah’s daughter and destroying the magic Stone Scrolls? Their leader has a shameful secret, and it takes his brave daughter to join with the Summertime troupe, inadvertently exposing this secret.
I thoroughly enjoyed seeing the familiar characters from the previous novel and meeting the new ones in this elven fantasy full of magic, peril and desperate circumstances. All characters were complex and relatable with real relational problems anyone can identify with, all set in S L Dooley’s vividly imagined world. The main standout is the depiction of a father’s love and the lengths a good father would go to save his daughter, all a reflection of a greater Father’s love for all his children.
I can thoroughly recommend this novel. It’s a delight.