Book Girl of Mur-y-Castell

Friday, 20 July 2012

Review: The Gathering of the Lost - Helen Lowe

The Gathering of the Lost by Helen Lowe

Tarathan of Ar and Jehane Mor, ride into the great city of Ij in time for it's grand Festival of Masks. But soon after their arrival they witness a terrible slaughter as their fellow heralds are targeted an assassinated. They must flee for their lives across the city as they discover Swarm agents at work as they attempt to destabilise the entire River Cities network for their own ends. And five years after her great flight from the Derai Wall, Malian remains hidden to those who seek her. But she has not been idle. Her goal is to muster all Derai magic users that have fled into exile rather than face destruction. Only by uniting against the Swarm menace can they hold their own against the dark tide and she has hunted down every rumour of their presence. And she has developed her own powers that the Swarm must learn to respect ? and to fear. For Malian won't see her people fall to a dark tide of twisted magic as demonic forces subvert a way of life.

My thoughts:

I must say well done. Lowe kept on surprising me and I did not see things coming.

The book is made into different parts. In the first part we meet Tarathan and Jehane from book one. Things are happening in the River country. The darkness are stretching beyond the wall know. The next part is about Carrick, who comes to the country of Emer. More plots and more showings of the Darkswarm. All these things happening are connected, pieces fall into place as I read on. Even if I did wonder where Malian was, there I was on page 300 and she was still not around. But it had to be like that, there are stories to be told and threads to come together. And when I do meet Malian and Kalan for that matter, they are so changed. 5 years have gone by since the fled the Wall. They are older, and in Malian's case, hard and bitter. She has much to deal with and she needs to be strong, but sometimes strong is too close to ruthless.

There are characters from book 1 and new ones to get to know, and at the end I just sat there and thought, no way! Huh. She is like a spider in a web, plots going all directions, but all coming together in the most masterful of ways. There is such thought put into this book.

And I have to mention the world again, the echoes of could be sci-fi. No, there is no technology, this is pure fantasy. But the race of Derai and their enemies are alien to this world. They came to the world from another world, they had raced across the universe fighting each other. And they landed with a big bang that forever changed the countries on this world. Rivers changed, mountains fell. Aliens on a new planet. And I like that echo. Even if it was all brought by magic and such, that echo lingers and makes this world more alien in a way. Like it's out there somewhere, in the vast universe.

Conclusion:

And now I want book 3 to see what happens to Malian and the rest I have met in this world. And the more I learn about the enemy, the more alike they seem each other.

Cover...meh