All of Fernest is celebrating Olivia and the Seventh Legion’s victory at the Battle of Ilys. Their festivities are cut short, however, when news arrives of a disastrous defeat on the northern front. Time is of the essence if they’re going to save the remaining Legions before the empire strikes. The mission falls to Olivia, who sets off for the north with Claudia and Ashton in tow.
Lying in wait for them is the empire’s General Rosenmarie, along with her Crimson Knights. Hungry for revenge after the death of her beloved General Osvannes, she’ll stop at nothing to crush the Seventh Legion.
Can Olivia and the others stop Rosenmarie and her shadowy allies, or are they walking right into a trap?
More of the same. I think that these books work (to the extent that they do) because Olivia being basically unkillable is really neither here nor there for the central conflict of the novel; she can be a major player, but she can't win the war. Still, one-sided fights risk getting old. There's also some indication that the author is planning to expand the scope of the story in later volumes by introducing other nations into the war; I wonder if the way around having such one-sided fights is going to be to emphasize combat between characters other than Olivia.
The story was more coherent than the first book, although the characters can at best be described as ‘clunky’. My biggest problem with these books is still that Olivia is just too powerful, without the risk element the action does become a bit pointless. However I found this easy to read and I quite enjoyed the story.
Interesting take on a familiar theme. Clueless OP heroine wipes the floor with her enemies. Lots of violence using typical medieval weaponry, at times excessive but that's typical of this genre.
The story continues much like volume 1, and to be honest, that is kind of my problem. Cute girls doing cute things mixed in with brutal warfare and bloody duels without much character or world development were getting a bit boring to me. It did not help, that it felt repetitive, the main battles and duels. Not the series for me despite my initial interest.