Review: BREATH AND BONE

Breath And Bone by Carol Berg
Book 2 of the Lighthouse Duet

Genre: epic fantasy

About Breath And Bone:

Osriel the Bastard wagged his finger, choking off my response as if a noose tightened about my neck. "But you, Magnus Valentia de Cartamandua-Celestine...what does Sila Diaglou want with you?"

Not just the murderous Harrower priestess, but everyone in Navronne seems to be after Valen. There is the Bastard Prince himself, who steals dead men's eyes. And the Pureblood Registry, determined to keep every pureblood sorcerer in thrall. Even beings out of myth, the Danae guardians, whose dancing nurtures the earth and whose attention could prove the most costly of all.

As Navronne sinks deeper into civil war and perilous winter, Valen finds himself a bargaining chip in a deadly standoff. Doomed to madness by his addiction to the doulon, and bound by oaths he refuses to abandon, the young sorcerer risks body and soul to rescue one child, seek justice for another, and bring the ailing land its righteous king. Yet no one is who they seem, and Valen's search for healing grace leads him from Harrower dungeons to the very heart of the world. In the twilight of a legend, he at last discovers the hard truth of the coming dark age and the glorious, terrible price of the land's redemption...and his own.

Source: Info in the About Breath And Bone was taken from the author's website at http://www.sff.net/people/carolberg/lighthouse.html on 26/03/2011.

Review:

Carol Berg is one of those talented story spinners whose author's voice is so wonderful that the story just flows. Berg makes the emotions of Valen so tangible and the tangy smell of the sea so real I could almost taste it! I really like this author's voice! The masterful author's voice was the only reason I didn't rate book 1, Flesh And Spirit, a less than 3. Which it automatically would have scored, given how I hate cliffhanger endings. However, (good for me) I borrowed both books of the Lighthouse Duet at the same time so I was able to continue reading book 2 as soon as I hit the cliffhanger in book 1. Disaster averted. This book also started out slow but the pace gets quicker and quicker and it builds to a wonderful crescendo at the end with a satisfying climax! The plot is twistier than a texan twister which kept springing surprises at me. What a pleasure to read! There are minor points which can be quibbled as not quite believable which could bring the suspension of disbelief half a notch down, but on the whole I can forgive all those nitpicking for the wonderful reading experience I get at the end of it! Highly recommended! Though you have to trudge through book 1 first.

My greatest complaint now is that there are no more books in this series. And I'm kinda hoping to hear more about Thokki and Kol. I think they would make a nice pair! Here is an image which reminds me of Thokki and Kol... although we can't have them walking around naked other than their gard markings, so elf-like clothes will do.

Emperical Evaluation:
Story telling quality = 5
Character development = 5
Story itself = 5
Ending = 6
World building = 5
Cover art = 4
Pace = 4.5

Overall Rating: 5 out of 5 cherries


FTC Disclosure: This book was borrowed from the library.

The Other Book In The Lighthouse Duet:

Flesh & Spirit at GetGlue
My review of FLESH & SPIRIT is here.