There are a great number of important personae, races, and animals throughout this tale that it might appear overwhelming to begin with but it's worth sticking with.

I felt a pang of pain and nostalgia and love every time one of the old crew members was mentioned (this is no spoiler since more than a century has passed and naturally iconic characters died, but although I expected that, I still felt their loss as if they were friends or family! I have no problem admitting to myself and to you all that it was hard for me to accept that those characters were no longer around, and maybe because we met Drem first that was what caused the distance between the character and myself. This is a great place to start or an unmissable next step in Gwynne's majestic tale of Good vs Evil. Their are a few cross over characters from the previous series through and they were a joy to see again.In conclusion, the world-building is truly a work of excellence because the lore was actually established in full detail from the previous four books. It's within this subtle and shifting moral landscape where Gwynne really shines, never opting for the easy answers. This seamless interweaving of two different times is done so masterfully, that I am almost tempted to proclaim that reading the first series is unnecessary if you want to start with this book first. He's been in a rock 'n' roll band, playing the double bass, traveled the USA and lived in Canada for a time. This was darker, easier to follow with fewer places and characters but it has the same great writing and pacing!

But it seems lik This felt like a bad thing when I was reading it because I couldn't help but compare it to the first one that had a much more sprawling, world shattering plot. We have Riv, who has always been exceptionally skilled at battle and wants nothing more than to become a White Wing – one of the Ben Elim’s human peacekeepers – like both her mother and sister. Let me say this, you do not need to have read The Faithful and the Fallen to enjoy reading this new trilogy as most big events from the previous series mention at some point in these novels.Gwynne delivers adrenaline-filled fight scenes with characters you care about, and the outcome never feels certain, that aforementioned dread is convincing, you feel that characters you care about really might not make it.