The Thirst: Book Two of the Penultimate Dawn Cycle

by Michael D. Young

After the catastrophic events of the Wrath, Azil and his companions wake up to a world completely transformed. The monstrous Mals are acting strangely, driven even deeper into their madness by a new and terrible sensation called the Thirst. The different Aspects of Rahim are now at war with each other, some trying to unite the power of all the Aspects again, while others fight to keep them apart. For Azil and his companions, the keys to ending the conflict lie both in a long-forgotten city deep below the earth, and high in the heavens on the moons that hang over the Realm. Even with the help of his newfound powers and allies, Azil is not sure he can win this dangerous contest that threatens to destroy all hopes of a new dawn.

284 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 16, 2021

About the author

Though Michael grew up traveling the world with his military family, he now lives in Utah with his wife, Jen, and their three children, where he creates online curriculum for Brigham Young University. He is a graduate of BYU and Western Governors University with degrees in German Teaching, Music, Educational Leadership, and Instructional Design. He enjoys acting in community theater, podcasting, playing and writing music, and spending time with his family. He played for years with the Bells on Temple Square and is now a member of the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square.

He is the author of the novels in The Canticle Kingdom Series, The Last Archangel Series, the Chess Quest Series, and the Penultimate Dawn Cycle (The Hunger), the Wonderful Week for a Quest Series, as well as several non-fiction works, including An Advent Carols Countdown, Sacred Days, Sacred Songs, The Song of the Righteous, As Saints We Sing, and The Song of the Saints. He has also had work featured in various online and print magazines such as Bards and Sages Quarterly, Mindflights, Meridian, Nugent Magazine, The New Era, Keeping Tab, Allegory, Liahona, and Ensign.

Reviews

[odedo1 Audio book worm. · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book about a book.



This book is written in a biblical way, chapters and verses numbers.

This is a new one for me,
The author Michael D. Young have written a book similar to a Bible withe chapters and verses.
It’s about a magical world which was leftover the end of the world wars.
At times I got lost in the verses till finding my way back to the story.
A hard one to review without listening to the continuation of this story.



Beautiful narration by Daemon Reah for each of the characters in this creation.


Recommended !!!


Oded Ostfeld.

[SensitiveSmoliv · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Thirst was quite an adventure!

I appreciated the post-apocalyptic world building, brought about from the conclusion of The Hunger. While the religious theming in this series is not something I resonate with personally, I do appreciate the author's ability to further expand upon this fictional religion in his creation of The Mind of Rahim. I did really enjoy the verses at the start of each chapter, it was like a pleasant little snippet/prophecy of what was to come later as the story unfolded. With the segmentation of the Aspects of Rahim also comes a new danger - in the form of the Purple Aspect and his growing army of Mals.

Definitely an exciting journey, would recommend!

[Dailey Ward · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoy how Michael D. Young divided the aspects of Rahim in this novel. This 'aspect' of the novel gives him a great deal of room for play as an author. Inherent connectivity, conflict of self, and sacrifice can be found throughout the book.

The Mals as well in the novel add another layer of danger. With the Purple Aspect using bodies of the fallen to create an army of his own, the darkness of this fallen universe really sinks in.

Would recommend if you are into stories with fallen worlds, multiple plotlines converging, and unique systems of magic!