In fact, I came to downright detest him in the first book, as I found his personality to be incredibly dull and his romance with Elanna emotionally flat. Instead of carrying on with the story through the eyes of Elanna Valtai, the wonderful star of the previous novel, The Memory of Fire changes tack and approaches things from the perspective of her lover, Jahan Korakides-whom I’m nowhere near as fond of. So then, why didn’t I enjoy this second volume, especially since it continued to expand the overall series arc by exploring many of the same world-building and magical themes from the first book? The main reason: a different main character.

It has a decent premise, a well-written story not marred by any serious technical problems, and it is also sequel to a debut I really enjoyed last year, called The Waking Land. Writing a negative is never easy, and there are certain books that make me feel extra crummy about it because I know the problem lies solely within me and not in the book itself. This does not affect the contents of my review and all opinions are my own. I received a review copy from the publisher.

Watching Elanna’s gentle desires merge with the angry needs of her oppressed people is fascinating, and Bates has a delicate, precise touch with human and superhuman relationships.Book Review: The Memory of Fire by Callie Bates All this must change when the king is poisoned, she is accused of the murder, and she flees from smothering safety to the wild, free danger of her potential role as “steward of the land.” Throughout, she is aided, tempted, and intoxicated by Lord Jahan, a conflicted sorcerer himself. Elanna has been taught to deny everything she is, or could be she knows that she has a special kinship with plants and has the power to control them, but she has subsumed that into planning a career in botany. She’s 19 now, saturated with the attitudes of the royal court but still drawn to the ancient stone circles where the forbidden magic of her northern homeland lurks. Elanna was only five when King Antoine seized her as a hostage to stop her father from plotting revolt. This superior novel blends passionate romance and sweeping magic in the first-person, present-tense narrative of a young woman struggling with her destiny in a magical analogue of 13th-century Britain.

The Waking Land by Callie Bates