Unbroken

Rise of the Masks #2

by E.M. Kaplan

No broken promises. No matter the distance, no matter how much time has passed, Rav promised to return to her younger sister. Far south in the Red Desert, young Zunee was left in charge of their family. Now she must fend off evil warlords while trying to keep her younger sisters from starving in the harsh desertland. Mel and Ott make the arduous journey south to the Red Desert to help reunite the two sisters. But gods above, do the very elements conspire to keep the them apart?

289 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 28, 2015

About the author

Award-winning mystery and fantasy author, EM Kaplan, was an 80s kid, spoonfed on six channels of a VHF dial TV. She grew up reading Agatha Christie and Edgar Rice Burroughs in rural Arizona where there were no sidewalks but plenty of tumbleweeds. A former wannabe spy, trombonist, toilet-cleaner, beginner ninja, and subversive marketeer, she currently lives in the frozen north with her husband, author JD Kaplan, kids, and dog.

Reviews

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

The highly entertaining second book in the Rise of the Masks series. All of the characters you grew to love in Unmasked, plus some really compelling new ones. I loved learning more about the world, about the characters, about Masks, trogs and the wonders of agamite. Plus I'm a sucker for the elements. Thanks for a great read, EM Kaplan!

[Elissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read at random in a variety of genres but thanks to the Law of Awareness frequently find myself following one story with another similar in tone or texture but by a completely different author. A number of epic sagas have come my way of late, each meticulously crafted so you can feel the winds or numbing cold or choking dust of the world you enter. This book did not fail to satisfy!

But it was an astonishment to me. In the first place, I know the author's work better for the hipster-ironic cozy mysteries she also composes, so was utterly gobsmacked to find myself in a steampunk medieval apocalypse. This is the second volume of the epoch and I would gather the first focuses on our heroine's upbringing and the events tossing her from a closed society out into the broader world. Enough critical detail is provided within this volume, however, that it stands alone quite nicely and concludes satisfactorily. The fact that there are more books simply means the world continues on its path and has new adventures.

I had the pleasure of listening to the AUDIO of "Unbroken" and commend narrator TJ Richards for keeping the action flowing and for her excellent characterizations and vocalizations.

[Aurora · Rating 3 out of 5]

I listened to an Audible version of this story and I'm not sure whether it was the fact that it was a "book 2" and really needed the prequel to go before it or whether it was just a difficult book to follow, but I had a real problem keeping track of all of the characters. The action was great, offering elements, nasty Trogs and some interesting heroes, but I kept finding myself saying "wait! Which set of adventurers are we dealing with here. For that reason, and for me, it might have been a better book to read as a text story rather than an audio book so I could have flipped back a page or two, or to the beginning of the chapter so I could sort out which set of characters I was following.
In any case, it's a good story, with lots of great adventure and interesting protagonists. It's just a challenging one.

[Theresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. This book was even better than the first. I can't say too much without giving it away and what fun is that? Half the fun was figuring out who or what was causing the mayhem.

I will say this... I really liked most of the characters and the fight at the end was pretty awesome.