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Tatterwing #2.5
The Dark in the Wood - Part 2 of 2
Previous cover edition foro ASIN B01IEJ6Z6G
For alternate cover edition see here
Resuming from the events of book 2, part 1…
Medo Tatterwing fights her way through a web of mystery and a hoard of foes. Her dark guide, as always, is her strongest aid, but will she have the resolve to do what is necessary? Will Sinder, Son of the Cold, prove to be friend or foe? Will the truth about Owyn’s past come to light?
In a struggle of trust, loyalty and sacrifice, Medo plays her hand in this gentleman’s game. The result won’t just determine the survival of her companions, but will cement her very future in the Torn Realms.
general series blurb:
It's common enough for a book of dragons to center on a young wizard harnessing his power, or a knightly lad (usually a farmhand) learning to vanquish evil. The Merlins and Arthurs, if you will. Too rarely do we get to glimpse the other side of the coin. The Madam Mims and Morgan le Fays certainly had their own humble beginnings, but those stories are seldom told. Those climbs to power are somehow neglected.
Within the pages of The Tatterwing Chronicles you'll find such a story. A story of a girl well on her way to becoming the notorious witch known as Tatterwing. A story of her rise to power, her flirtation with the darkness, and her tendency to ride the line between hero and villain as the odds stack against her.
For alternate cover edition see here
Resuming from the events of book 2, part 1…
Medo Tatterwing fights her way through a web of mystery and a hoard of foes. Her dark guide, as always, is her strongest aid, but will she have the resolve to do what is necessary? Will Sinder, Son of the Cold, prove to be friend or foe? Will the truth about Owyn’s past come to light?
In a struggle of trust, loyalty and sacrifice, Medo plays her hand in this gentleman’s game. The result won’t just determine the survival of her companions, but will cement her very future in the Torn Realms.
general series blurb:
It's common enough for a book of dragons to center on a young wizard harnessing his power, or a knightly lad (usually a farmhand) learning to vanquish evil. The Merlins and Arthurs, if you will. Too rarely do we get to glimpse the other side of the coin. The Madam Mims and Morgan le Fays certainly had their own humble beginnings, but those stories are seldom told. Those climbs to power are somehow neglected.
Within the pages of The Tatterwing Chronicles you'll find such a story. A story of a girl well on her way to becoming the notorious witch known as Tatterwing. A story of her rise to power, her flirtation with the darkness, and her tendency to ride the line between hero and villain as the odds stack against her.
274 pages, ebook
Published October 4, 2016
2 people are currently reading
24 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
September 29, 2020
Hand on heart I can say that this series only gets better as it goes along. Part 2 of 2 makes it sound like a slog, but it's more A Dance With Dragons than any money-grabbing (and pointless) splitting up of a story. It's a long arc, and looks only to be getting longer... And I am so here for it. Because you know it's an origins story. You know where it must go. The tension building in this instalment is makes you feel like you're experiencing the reading equivalent of the boiling frog conundrum; you don't know what's coming until it hits you. Boy oh boy, does this one hit you.
He’s like a bad cup of tea, she mused, over-brewed and bitter. Her friends wouldn’t fail her, of that she was sure.
It picks up right from where we left off: Medo, Owyn and Marlin joined by the ever-creepy Rallyn and the holier-than-thou Sinder as they try to find what's left of poor mad Queen Rowen before the hunters do. Their uneasy alliance is tested at every turn, fraught by Medo's use of Black Magic and the conflicting voices of her new companions. Sinder believes her corrupted, but bound by oath to the Seer King's instructions he'll put up with her for now. Dark secrets bubble up from the past, and not everyone is who they seem in this eerie land of magic and mayhem. It seems that no matter what, Owyn can't run from his past, and Medo can't run from her future.
That Game of Thrones comparison is actually on two levels; not just a story arc divided, but for the sheer twisty-turny-ness of the characters and the power games being played. It's still young adult appropriate, but wow, is it dark and complex. There's so much legend and lore, history and secrets lost in the murky Torn Realms. It's all interwoven so beautifully with the main story that it's hard to separate the two. I felt just as much on tenterhooks about the goings on of the High King and Queen and their family rivalries as I did for Medo and her companions.
The tone is definitely getting darker. Young adult gothic perhaps. We've moved from a little light dabbling to actually seeing what Black Magic can do, and it can be pretty darn nasty. There's no revelling in excess gore or nastiness though, again keeping it young adult appropriate. No more cute squirrel companions either, though Medo's picked up a little bird with an attitude.
The characters still have that companionable cosiness to them, and the interactions of the main trio still warm my heart. The understated "thing" with Medo and Owyn is so perfect, and Marlin being their joking parental figure, mentor and moral compass is a joy to read. Sinder, as a Lawful Good paladin type, acts as a strong force to help question Medo's actions, but also see things from her point of view. He helps push that "is it ever right to do a bad thing for the good reasons?" moral message, though don't expect to be preached to; draw your own conclusions. Medo's also not infallible, and I love that she wars within herself without coming across as having some kind of split persona.
You can't not mention the villains. Arkhold is grim and far more powerful as a baddie for not being around constantly; his power is in what he doesn't have to say. His cronies the Kotswollows are just plain mean in that unfair adult character way. The mad Seer King is always a creepy lurking presence, his interludes of interference adding to the atmosphere.
I was completely taken aback by just how much emotional weight this one packed. From the shocking actions half way through to the painfully bitter conclusion, I was left with heartache for just about everyone (except maybe those bad guys - a mark of a good, even minor, baddie is making sure what happens to them is justifiable, and this book does that so well). How everything the companions have built seems destined to break apart and their fight to hold it together is a thing of beauty.
Being left with a To Be Continued style ending was just painful, but in that way that only good books can do. You've become so invested in the characters and the world that you feel their pain and you want so badly to know where the story is going... Except you know. You know with a creeping sense of dread, and yet it's so gorgeously written you can't let these characters go until the bitter end.
There are still some little times when lore was mentioned in passing and was significant much later but I'd already forgotten "what everyone knew" (things about the mysterious Oira, and, sorry Sinder, your "stone" does what now?), but that's a minor detail and only one for the feather-brained like myself. There's so much to take in it can feel hard to keep track of it all.
TL;DR: No second (or third?) book slump here - only more of the same gorgeous gothic atmosphere and dangerous power games, tempered by truly sympathetic characters and their moral quandaries.
It's all I can do to stave off reading the next book straight away.
He’s like a bad cup of tea, she mused, over-brewed and bitter. Her friends wouldn’t fail her, of that she was sure.
It picks up right from where we left off: Medo, Owyn and Marlin joined by the ever-creepy Rallyn and the holier-than-thou Sinder as they try to find what's left of poor mad Queen Rowen before the hunters do. Their uneasy alliance is tested at every turn, fraught by Medo's use of Black Magic and the conflicting voices of her new companions. Sinder believes her corrupted, but bound by oath to the Seer King's instructions he'll put up with her for now. Dark secrets bubble up from the past, and not everyone is who they seem in this eerie land of magic and mayhem. It seems that no matter what, Owyn can't run from his past, and Medo can't run from her future.
That Game of Thrones comparison is actually on two levels; not just a story arc divided, but for the sheer twisty-turny-ness of the characters and the power games being played. It's still young adult appropriate, but wow, is it dark and complex. There's so much legend and lore, history and secrets lost in the murky Torn Realms. It's all interwoven so beautifully with the main story that it's hard to separate the two. I felt just as much on tenterhooks about the goings on of the High King and Queen and their family rivalries as I did for Medo and her companions.
The tone is definitely getting darker. Young adult gothic perhaps. We've moved from a little light dabbling to actually seeing what Black Magic can do, and it can be pretty darn nasty. There's no revelling in excess gore or nastiness though, again keeping it young adult appropriate. No more cute squirrel companions either, though Medo's picked up a little bird with an attitude.
The characters still have that companionable cosiness to them, and the interactions of the main trio still warm my heart. The understated "thing" with Medo and Owyn is so perfect, and Marlin being their joking parental figure, mentor and moral compass is a joy to read. Sinder, as a Lawful Good paladin type, acts as a strong force to help question Medo's actions, but also see things from her point of view. He helps push that "is it ever right to do a bad thing for the good reasons?" moral message, though don't expect to be preached to; draw your own conclusions. Medo's also not infallible, and I love that she wars within herself without coming across as having some kind of split persona.
You can't not mention the villains. Arkhold is grim and far more powerful as a baddie for not being around constantly; his power is in what he doesn't have to say. His cronies the Kotswollows are just plain mean in that unfair adult character way. The mad Seer King is always a creepy lurking presence, his interludes of interference adding to the atmosphere.
I was completely taken aback by just how much emotional weight this one packed. From the shocking actions half way through to the painfully bitter conclusion, I was left with heartache for just about everyone (except maybe those bad guys - a mark of a good, even minor, baddie is making sure what happens to them is justifiable, and this book does that so well). How everything the companions have built seems destined to break apart and their fight to hold it together is a thing of beauty.
Being left with a To Be Continued style ending was just painful, but in that way that only good books can do. You've become so invested in the characters and the world that you feel their pain and you want so badly to know where the story is going... Except you know. You know with a creeping sense of dread, and yet it's so gorgeously written you can't let these characters go until the bitter end.
There are still some little times when lore was mentioned in passing and was significant much later but I'd already forgotten "what everyone knew" (things about the mysterious Oira, and, sorry Sinder, your "stone" does what now?), but that's a minor detail and only one for the feather-brained like myself. There's so much to take in it can feel hard to keep track of it all.
TL;DR: No second (or third?) book slump here - only more of the same gorgeous gothic atmosphere and dangerous power games, tempered by truly sympathetic characters and their moral quandaries.
It's all I can do to stave off reading the next book straight away.
July 17, 2023
How have I missed this enthralling saga?
I love when an author foreshadows enough to tantalize and then delivers in a surprising strike.
The witch Tatterwing is a superb anti-hero, meddling in dark magic but striving to accomplish good. Her relationships with the magician Marlin and the young warrior Owyn are so undemanding and evolve so naturally you can't help but love and anguish with them all as their inevitable conflict deepens. A gem of a fantasy novel. I liked this third volume just as much as the first two, and that's rare. One observation I must make: suspension of disbelief is necessary as these characters find themselves so near to death time and again, only to rise and battle yet again! Comic book fans will get it.
I love when an author foreshadows enough to tantalize and then delivers in a surprising strike.
The witch Tatterwing is a superb anti-hero, meddling in dark magic but striving to accomplish good. Her relationships with the magician Marlin and the young warrior Owyn are so undemanding and evolve so naturally you can't help but love and anguish with them all as their inevitable conflict deepens. A gem of a fantasy novel. I liked this third volume just as much as the first two, and that's rare. One observation I must make: suspension of disbelief is necessary as these characters find themselves so near to death time and again, only to rise and battle yet again! Comic book fans will get it.
April 3, 2023
Real good
Lost myself in the book totally which hasmt happened in awhole. Im starting the next book in the story now
Lost myself in the book totally which hasmt happened in awhole. Im starting the next book in the story now
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews