Elaine White's Life in Books

** This review is word-for-word as that contained within the Blessed Epoch, Vol. 1 review **

Book 2: Ice and Embers
Length: 23-46%
POV: Yarrow, Duncan, Sasha, Garith
Star rating: ★★★☆☆

Again, I'm of two minds. This time, it's really about the lack of consistency within the series. Book 1 was so choked up with sub-plots that all came together into one big plot, while this one has one big plot that isn't that detailed or complicated, is rather obvious and left me rolling my eyes a little, at the unnecessary ending.

I don't find it at all believable that the members of the order keep going about shouting 'traitor' at Sasha, while trying to kill him. These are the angriest assassins I've ever seen, for a bunch of people who were apparently bred/taught to be devoid of all emotion (actually included in the text as “The Crimson Scythe taught anger and hatred could hamper their work...”). Yet, every single one of them is furious with Sasha and end up being all the sloppier for it. It just doesn't add up.

I also find it really illogical for the timeline where the order are concerned. There's one part where Sasha is with the order. The timeline reads that he leaves Yarrow and Duncan, goes to a local tavern to get a drink, barely drinks anything and leaves with members of the order. Yarrow and Duncan catch up, barely wasted five minutes talking after Sasha left, followed and have a drink to interrogate the bar girl, only to follow Sasha straight out, not even five or ten minutes after he left. But, somehow, it takes 'what feels like hours' to travel through the path left for them. So, how did the order get Sasha there, set up a trap, torture him and prepare to face Yarrow without anyone being breathless, in such a short time? It's either impossible timing or incomplete explanation of the order using another entrance.

When it comes to the 'treacherous nobles' storyline, I find it very hard to believe that one cantankerous old woman could create a mob of snobs willing to commit treason just to get their hands on more money and get a new bairn. It seems far too dangerous and outlandish to be believed.

We were given Garith's POV in this one, but I'm really not sure why. The only thing it showed us is that he is in love with Sanders and that he turns to his mother and wife for advice, which ends with them leading him around with a leash, just as was presumed in the previous book. Neither of these are a surprise and I'm not sure his POV was really needed to show us that, since it was already obvious.

I was right about who the creature was, which wasn't a surprise, either, as all the signs were there to be put together without much effort. Unfortunately, this story arc was dragged out just like the Sasha and Duncan storyline. While much more interesting and something that I wanted to find out about, it dragged on laboriously for a long, long time, particularly while Yarrow was pretending to be an average, everyday student of magery. I really don't think that part was needed, as there had to be another way for him to find what he needed or at least not put us through the ruse of seeing it all play out.

Similarly, I found Sasha and Duncan's story arc seriously boring! Their constant quips and bickering was exhausting and annoying, because it only rehashed all the things we already knew they were dealing with, without ever coming to a conclusion without the help of Yarrow. I also didn't like the fact that they could lash out in a physical fight with each other, beating each other in an all out brawn about lack of respect and trust, only to end up in needless sex.

I love Yarrow and understand Sasha, but while I like him and Duncan, the knight is obtuse and unaccountably stupid. Yarrow says enough in one sentence for anyone with half a brain to make sense of what he means about his past, but Duncan requires a full account, before he can understand what is being said, forcing Sasha to talk about it and Yarrow to hear it, all because he's a complete dunce!

I liked the addition of Hale and Corbin, who were both intriguing characters who were underused. I would have loved for Hale to stick around with Yarrow, but it doesn't seem like we'll see him again, which is seriously disappointing as his character could have a major influence if just used properly.

The plot isn't halfway as convoluted or as twisted as book 1, but it's lacking for that. Because, for half of the story, nothing happens that is either interesting or worth sticking around for. Mostly, it's Yarrow pretending to be someone he's not and Duncan and Sasha living together, handing politics. It isn't until halfway through that anything even remotely interesting happens and I actually found myself wishing for the intricate, twisting sub-plots of book 1, just because it would mean something was happening.

Overall, the story does have less sex, which I wanted, and a less convoluted and twisted plot, but it's all to the story's detriment. The plot was barely existent in some places, the story dragged considerably in places, leaving the entire first half of the novel as boring, dragging and uninteresting. There was no need for Garith's POV, because it only showed us what we already knew. It felt far more like the real arc of the novel wasn't about Yarrow's escape from the creature, Duncan's bairn-ship or their journey back to each other, but actually unrealised, unrequired love, both between Garith and Sanders and Yarrow and Sai. It took Yarrow sailing with Sai to pick up the novel and begin to reach that parts I wanted to read.

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Favourite Quote

“The winds are always changing, Yarrow, and all we can do is adjust our sails.”

“If he needed to, Sasha would spill an ocean of blood to bring them all together again. Their strange little family was the only thing he'd ever valued in his life.”

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