Title: The Ghost King
Author: Jeff Altabef
Rating: 3/5 stars
Check out my review of the first book, Red Death, here.
I was sent a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.
This is a spoiler free review!
Summary
Now that Wilky has foreseen a coming war, Aaliss, Eamon, and the rest of their crew must figure out a way to unite the three main tribes to defeat the enemy, a witch, and her lethal army. This turns out to be a more difficult task than was expected. They must find a way to unite against the oncoming darkness in order to destroy it and find the light.
Review
I think people will enjoy this novel if they are into high fantasy and adventure. When diving into this book, I was excited to learn more about the aftermath in Eden however there was not much of this. This novel was focused more on the three tribes, the Butchers, the Orions, and the Painted Ones. I appreciated how the book dived deeper into the intricacies of the culture more than what it had in the first installment. This novel jumps between many different perspectives, so you can understand what is occurring on all sides of this struggle, including the enemy. There is a “Cast of Characters” section at the end of this book, like in the first, with a link to it at the end of every chapter, which was definitely helpful!
Something I loved about this novel was the emphasis is had on how difficult it is to change one’s belief system. Although Aaliss is presented with much evidence against the teachings she has studied her whole life, you can clearly see a presence of her old ideology. There are so many different belief systems from the different cultures and I think this reflects the world. There is also an emphasis on connecting people of different cultures, which I really appreciated.
I was a little confused throughout this novel. I think this sequel dived more into the description of the places and the characters but there were various aspects of Eden, the City of Bones, The Exchange, and the other tribes that were not clear and it left me confused. The characters in this story also go through more development and arc than in the first installment. It helps the reader connect to the characters and understand what they are doing and why.
Another aspect that I didn’t appreciate about this book included much aspect that revolved around Aaliss. In the war, no other women, except Aaliss, were fighting in the war. Aaliss was even pushed to the side of the war so she would not get hurt. Aaliss is a skilled and trained fighter who teaches many of the men how to fight throughout the book however she was not allowed to fight until she, herself, pushed into the war and helped immensely during the war. Aaliss also is one of those characters that everyone loves. We have Eamon, of course, but then comes Michel (from Eden) and Cassian (from the Orion tribe). Is this a love… square… of sorts? She is also the type of character where everything comes easy for her. Example: “Aaliss back flipped out of the way.” Right… of course!
Just a simple warning, there is a lot of death and it is sometimes described a little bloody, so if that makes you uncomfortable I would recommend that you do not read this book. The action scenes are well written though because I usually get bored during these types of scenes but I did not in the novel. This book is a quick and easy read the fantasy lovers will enjoy!
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