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Return to Jae Waller's wondrous and war-torn colonial world in this captivating second instalment in the Call of the Rift series
The Blackbird Battle has left all sides devastated. The wind spirit Suriel has disappeared. A hard winter is coming, and famine stalks the land. Kateiko Rin returns to her people, ready at last to rejoin her community, but the dangers of the unsettled times come raging to her doorstep. Kako is left with no choice but to battle the forces that seek to open a rift between the worlds. Leading an unlikely alliance that includes her new love Airedain and her old one Tiernan, Kako must risk all to try and stop the coming disaster.
Author Jae Waller returns to her riveting alternate world of brooding rainforests in a colonial time and to her headstrong, troubled heroine in this compelling second volume of the Call of the Rift quintet.
The Blackbird Battle has left all sides devastated. The wind spirit Suriel has disappeared. A hard winter is coming, and famine stalks the land. Kateiko Rin returns to her people, ready at last to rejoin her community, but the dangers of the unsettled times come raging to her doorstep. Kako is left with no choice but to battle the forces that seek to open a rift between the worlds. Leading an unlikely alliance that includes her new love Airedain and her old one Tiernan, Kako must risk all to try and stop the coming disaster.
Author Jae Waller returns to her riveting alternate world of brooding rainforests in a colonial time and to her headstrong, troubled heroine in this compelling second volume of the Call of the Rift quintet.
- GenresFantasyHistorical
432 pages, Paperback
First published October 8, 2019
2 people are currently reading
65 people want to read
About the author
Jae Waller
5 books39 followersJae Waller grew up in a lumber town in northern British Columbia, Canada. She has a joint BFA in creative writing and fine art from the University of Northern British Columbia and Emily Carr University of Art + Design. Most interesting past job: streetside florist with a charity for unhoused people in Vancouver.
Now living in Melbourne, Australia, she works as a novelist and freelance artist.
Now living in Melbourne, Australia, she works as a novelist and freelance artist.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
March 23, 2020
The publisher was so generous and gave me a finished copy because I enjoyed book 1
I'D REALLY APPRECIATE IT IF MORE PEOPLE WOULD READ THIS SO I COULD HAVE PEOPLE TO TALK TO!
I definitely want to read this again in 2020 but right after reading The Call of the Rift: Flight because so much of it comes back into play either in plot or character conflicts or character growth. I think something I am really growing to appreciate is having main female characters who have a past before they meet their OTP. We're growing past the virginal untouched woman finds her husband in a night and neither have a past. It's unrealistic which is why something like GracelingGraceling is so freaking iconic. I really loved that so much of this book mirrors colonization in North America from the flux in weapons to even alcohol's influence. definitely going to keep reading the series.
I'D REALLY APPRECIATE IT IF MORE PEOPLE WOULD READ THIS SO I COULD HAVE PEOPLE TO TALK TO!
I definitely want to read this again in 2020 but right after reading The Call of the Rift: Flight because so much of it comes back into play either in plot or character conflicts or character growth. I think something I am really growing to appreciate is having main female characters who have a past before they meet their OTP. We're growing past the virginal untouched woman finds her husband in a night and neither have a past. It's unrealistic which is why something like GracelingGraceling is so freaking iconic. I really loved that so much of this book mirrors colonization in North America from the flux in weapons to even alcohol's influence. definitely going to keep reading the series.
February 18, 2020
(Disclaimer: Jae Waller has been an internet acquaintance of mine since before I began to read this series.)
This was a great book - I may even have liked it more than Flight, overall - but before I get into any of that, I need to preface this with a massive warning. If you're seriously depressed or vulnerable to depression or self-destructive tendencies, read this book only with extreme caution. Wait until you're in a halfway stable place emotionally and have coping skills available. In fact, if you've a severe case, you might want to wait until the next book comes out so you can continue straight on with it. Details in the spoiler tag, written in as general of terms as I can manage:
All right, all that over with: I did love this book. All the things I liked about Flight are just as present: fluid prose, excellent characterisation, natural-feeling dialogue, incredible worldbuilding. Cultural diversity - even greater cultural diversity than in Flight, in fact, as we're introduced to two additional cultures - with each culture depicted with nuance and depth, and each character's culture influencing them but not defining them. I cannot stress enough the extent to which the cultural worldbuilding in this series is absolutely top-notch.
I should also mention that Kateiko has sex-related trauma stemming from Flight, and it's handled really well: respectful, realistic, complicated, and neither is the trauma downplayed nor is Kateiko stripped of her sexuality. It's beautifully done.
Even better, there's improvement over Flight in a couple of respects. We have explicit queer representation! Two major characters are explicitly bisexual, from opposite ends of the bi spectrum, which already puts it a notch above a great deal of bi rep I've seen which treats it as a toggle rather than a spectrum; a third character makes a bi joke which doesn't make it 100% clear whether he actually is or not, but does make it clear that even if he is not, he'd be fine with it if he was (and/or if people thought he was). Queer-friendliness is not the same thing as queer representation, but in a different way it's worth at least as much. Both at once is gold.
The treatment of disability is not perfect, but it's still an improvement over Flight, in which I noted that there were no disabled characters - even in the background - despite a large cast and a lot of background characters. Disability exists in Veil. Several characters, including some who are quite major, developed physical disabilities from battle wounds; plus points for wounds received in battle having realistic, long-lasting consequences. I was extremely excited to see what at first seemed to be a deaf background character! My excitement was tempered when more was revealed about her: .
Overall: I really liked it and am very much looking forwards to more in this series.
Selling points: cultural diversity; seriously excellent worldbuilding; a sex scene featuring clear and honest communication; bi rep; realistic depiction of trauma and gentle recovery from the same; likeable characters; serious handling of fantasy violence; excellent voice.
Warnings: extended, highly immersive depiction of depression; alcoholism; character death; one instance of "psychotic" as a slur.
This was a great book - I may even have liked it more than Flight, overall - but before I get into any of that, I need to preface this with a massive warning. If you're seriously depressed or vulnerable to depression or self-destructive tendencies, read this book only with extreme caution. Wait until you're in a halfway stable place emotionally and have coping skills available. In fact, if you've a severe case, you might want to wait until the next book comes out so you can continue straight on with it. Details in the spoiler tag, written in as general of terms as I can manage:
All right, all that over with: I did love this book. All the things I liked about Flight are just as present: fluid prose, excellent characterisation, natural-feeling dialogue, incredible worldbuilding. Cultural diversity - even greater cultural diversity than in Flight, in fact, as we're introduced to two additional cultures - with each culture depicted with nuance and depth, and each character's culture influencing them but not defining them. I cannot stress enough the extent to which the cultural worldbuilding in this series is absolutely top-notch.
I should also mention that Kateiko has sex-related trauma stemming from Flight, and it's handled really well: respectful, realistic, complicated, and neither is the trauma downplayed nor is Kateiko stripped of her sexuality. It's beautifully done.
Even better, there's improvement over Flight in a couple of respects. We have explicit queer representation! Two major characters are explicitly bisexual, from opposite ends of the bi spectrum, which already puts it a notch above a great deal of bi rep I've seen which treats it as a toggle rather than a spectrum; a third character makes a bi joke which doesn't make it 100% clear whether he actually is or not, but does make it clear that even if he is not, he'd be fine with it if he was (and/or if people thought he was). Queer-friendliness is not the same thing as queer representation, but in a different way it's worth at least as much. Both at once is gold.
The treatment of disability is not perfect, but it's still an improvement over Flight, in which I noted that there were no disabled characters - even in the background - despite a large cast and a lot of background characters. Disability exists in Veil. Several characters, including some who are quite major, developed physical disabilities from battle wounds; plus points for wounds received in battle having realistic, long-lasting consequences. I was extremely excited to see what at first seemed to be a deaf background character! My excitement was tempered when more was revealed about her: .
Overall: I really liked it and am very much looking forwards to more in this series.
Selling points: cultural diversity; seriously excellent worldbuilding; a sex scene featuring clear and honest communication; bi rep; realistic depiction of trauma and gentle recovery from the same; likeable characters; serious handling of fantasy violence; excellent voice.
Warnings: extended, highly immersive depiction of depression; alcoholism; character death; one instance of "psychotic" as a slur.
November 6, 2019
The battle from Flight may be over, but it’s certainly not finished. Kako’s world is expanding and growing as they move about the continent searching for Suriel, but it seems like a losing battle because he’s all but disappeared. As Kateiko tries to settle back in with her people, trouble and danger once again come knocking. While the battle is behind them, the circumstances that led to battle are far from finished and, dare I say, bigger than ever. And even though Kako’s world and the world that the characters inhabit is much larger and more traveled than its ever been, it brings the Rin and everyone else that much closer to the colonists and those who think of Kako and her people as less than. With so much to endure and overcome in this installment, it was definitely a tense ride from start to finish.
In Flight, Kako found herself in some troubling personal times and I was super glad to see that in Veil, despite the danger and the never-ending tension, she was able to find a little slice of happiness wedged in among all the darkness. There were several other characters that found their own bits of happy, but don’t be fooled — this series is, so far, anything but happy. It’s dark, it’s dangerous, but it’s also so very lush and intricate. Everything — from the characters to the villages to the incredible world-building — everything is so rich and dimensional, and that’s definitely my favorite aspect of this series.
As with the first book, Veil ends on a bit of a tense note and it’s anyone’s guess on whether or not these characters and this world will ever find peace. I’m definitely looking forward to the next installment, and I can’t wait to see what the future brings for Kateiko Rin. This series has a little something for everyone — elemental magic, intricate world-building, amazing characters with a little dash of humor and romance thrown in for good measure. There are also some mature themes that are thought-provoking and timely, and it’s definitely a series I’ll be certain to recommend.
*Many thanks to ECW Press for providing a copy for review.
In Flight, Kako found herself in some troubling personal times and I was super glad to see that in Veil, despite the danger and the never-ending tension, she was able to find a little slice of happiness wedged in among all the darkness. There were several other characters that found their own bits of happy, but don’t be fooled — this series is, so far, anything but happy. It’s dark, it’s dangerous, but it’s also so very lush and intricate. Everything — from the characters to the villages to the incredible world-building — everything is so rich and dimensional, and that’s definitely my favorite aspect of this series.
As with the first book, Veil ends on a bit of a tense note and it’s anyone’s guess on whether or not these characters and this world will ever find peace. I’m definitely looking forward to the next installment, and I can’t wait to see what the future brings for Kateiko Rin. This series has a little something for everyone — elemental magic, intricate world-building, amazing characters with a little dash of humor and romance thrown in for good measure. There are also some mature themes that are thought-provoking and timely, and it’s definitely a series I’ll be certain to recommend.
*Many thanks to ECW Press for providing a copy for review.
October 9, 2019
I really enjoyed this book. Although the hardships that the characters endured on Flight only escalate in the sequel, it is very fun to read because the characters are so likable, and the settings are so captivating. We get to see much more of Eremur in this volume, as lead character Kako travels to what seems like the ends of the earth. I am not sure how much to say about the places in this book for fear of giving out spoilers, but there is a lot more to the world than we got to see in Flight, including an incredibly spooky Halloween island. Easily my favourite aspect of this book was the characters, as awesome characters like Rhonos and Falwen get key roles (and a more annoying character is cleverly gotten out of the way ^_~), and every relevant character has a distinct personality that makes watching them particularly fun. I should mention the plotline too - even though, through spoilers, I had a vague idea of what might happen in this book, at any given time I had no idea what would happen next. The plot is never stagnant for a moment, and at no point does the book get boring. As long as you have no major qualms with adult themes or the fantasy genre, I highly recommend this book.
January 4, 2024
The Call of the Rift series by Jae Waller review (books 1 & 2)❄️ NO SPOILERS
Kateiko Rin and her best friend Nili leave their only remaining family to seek a better life for themselves. The only way to do so is marry into another tribe. So they venture through the coastal rainforest in search of their new lives. However, killing a colonial soldier wasn't the plan. Neither was meeting Tiernan whose stories about a rift between their world and another offers more questions than answers.
For anyone who hasn't read this series before but loves the concept of parallel universes, this is the series for you.
The Call of the Rift follows the two versions of the protagonist Kateiko Rin: the warrior (books 1 & 2) and the healer (books 3 & 4). With book 5 where the two versions of herself meet.
If you like:
- intricate world building
- magical realism
- flawed and morally grey characters
- cultural diversity
- disability representation
- unrequited love
- accurate depiction of mental illness and,
- a clash between 'for the greater good' and 'every life matters' mindset
then this is the book for you.
If you enjoyed this review and would like to read more join me @lillianhelenewriter on Instagram.
Kateiko Rin and her best friend Nili leave their only remaining family to seek a better life for themselves. The only way to do so is marry into another tribe. So they venture through the coastal rainforest in search of their new lives. However, killing a colonial soldier wasn't the plan. Neither was meeting Tiernan whose stories about a rift between their world and another offers more questions than answers.
For anyone who hasn't read this series before but loves the concept of parallel universes, this is the series for you.
The Call of the Rift follows the two versions of the protagonist Kateiko Rin: the warrior (books 1 & 2) and the healer (books 3 & 4). With book 5 where the two versions of herself meet.
If you like:
- intricate world building
- magical realism
- flawed and morally grey characters
- cultural diversity
- disability representation
- unrequited love
- accurate depiction of mental illness and,
- a clash between 'for the greater good' and 'every life matters' mindset
then this is the book for you.
If you enjoyed this review and would like to read more join me @lillianhelenewriter on Instagram.
March 21, 2020
Good book. Wondering where book 3 is?.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews