After Merletta's startling discovery on Vazula, she spends some time away from the Three Kingdoms as she decides what to do with her new knowledge about the depths of the Center's lies to the people. If she goes back, should she speak up, trust someone else with what she has learned and risk her very life? Or should she hold her silence, stay away, and give up her dreams to become a record holder?
As for Heath, his physical wounds are nothing compared to the wounds appearing between the Valorians and the Valorian power-wielders. No matter what he does, he can't seem to find the way to heal the cracks forming between the crown and his power-wielding relatives, not even as his power is steadily growing. If he can't even mend his friendship with Reka, how can he hope to heal a more and more divided kingdom?
I wish I hadn't read this to fluff out the final 2022 Kindle Challenge days - it meant over 6 hours of reading across about a month, which was too long to draw out this book when so much is going on. Heath and Merletta see very little of each other, and when they do, they have very little they can do to help the other through their respective trials other than offer words of support, encouragement, and advice. Two of the strengths of this book are the steadily worsening divisions between the power wielders and the Valorian crown (so many real-world echoes!) and the dangers of deciding whether to speak out about lies and false fears in the very fabric of a whole society.
Each Heath and Merletta had very intriguing stories of their own, with their own sets of troubles and triumphs. (Well, maybe much less on the latter for Heath....) Once again Ms. White continues to deepen and enrich the worlds of Valoria and the Triple Kingdoms, giving us nearly as many teasers as revelations. I am quite interested to find out where this is going: how will Merletta fare with revealing the secrets of the Center, how will Heath fare with his choice to develop his magic further, how will the Triple Kingdoms and Valoria deal not only with their internal struggles, but - sure as Heath and Merletta met - also with potentially meeting each other? If Valorians struggle to accept power-wielders, and most of the Triple Kingdoms struggle to recognize Tilssted, what will it take to help them get along? (I can't see them never meeting, though there's not much to support it now other than Heath, Merletta, and Reka's interactions.)
A quote:
[Merletta] knew she'd be more convincing if she could keep her emotions out of it. - location 4749/6343 - I mean there were probably more memorable lines, but this stuck out at me because the stigma still exists that women are too emotional. In order to be taken seriously, women need to show no emotion or at least as little as possible when in the public sphere, otherwise our emotions will be taken as weakness, as a reason to not take us seriously, as a reason to doubt our experiences/knowledge, as a reason to dismiss us and our work. And that's not fair to anyone, least of all us women.