Rating: 8/10
Synopsis
In the wake of the devastating attack on Ilin Illan, an amnesty has been declared for all Augurs – finally allowing them to emerge from hiding and openly oppose the dark forces massing against Andarra. However as Davian and his new allies hurry north toward the ever-weakening Boundary, fresh horrors along their path suggest that their reprieve may have come far too late.
In the capital, Wirr is forced to contend with assassins and an increasingly hostile Administration as he controversially assumes the mantle of Northwarden, uncovering a mystery that draws into question everything commonly believed about the rebellion his father led twenty years ago. Meanwhile, Asha begins a secret investigation into the disappearance of the Shadows, determined to discover not only where they went but the origin of the Vessels that created them – and, ultimately, a cure.
And with time against him as he races to fulfill the treacherous bargain with the Lyth, Caeden continues to wrestle with the impossibly heavy burdens of his past. Yet as more and more of his memories return, he begins to realise that the motivations of the two sides in this ancient war may not be as clear-cut as they first seemed…
Review
“I’m telling you that you should doubt—as I do my own beliefs. The day on which you decide not to question what you believe, is the day that you start making excuses for why you believe it.”
I am currently buddy reading this series with Eleni from Late Night Books and Sam from The Book In Hand book blogs. If you are not following their blogs please do as they are fantastic bloggers with great content!
An Echo of Things to Come starts out not too long after the first book’s explosive ending. I don’t mind time jumps as long as they are done right. However, I am glad Islington took the route of starting pretty close to the end of the first book. This story has plenty of action and intrigue, but it is at its heart a character driven story and I think starting this way served the development of those characters best.
Speaking of the characters, this is a story with multiple POVs. Islington continues his trend of making each character’s POV interesting, meaningful, and engaging. My favorite POV was Caeden’s again as in my opinion he has the most interesting story and best character development, but Davian, Asha, and Wirr are also characters that were a joy to follow.
This was a slower paced book that suffered just a bit from middle book syndrome. There was so many important things that happened and so many reveals that were needed to set up the 3rd and final book. That’s actually what this book is best described as, a setup book for the finale. However, Islington did this so well and everything felt so important and purposeful that it didn’t end up being a large hindrance to my enjoyment of the book itself.
Within these pages you will a large amount of worldbuilding. We learn more about the Venerate, tons about the events of Caeden’s past, more about El and Shamaeloth, the Boundary, and quite a few other things as well. There was a lot packed in this story and I thought Islington struck a pretty good balance between showing and telling the information that we needed to know in order to move forward in the story.
Overall, this was a solid book 2. Although I didn’t like it as much as I liked book 1, I still really enjoyed myself and am excited to finish this series with The Light of all that Falls!
[…] You can find David’s review of An Echo of Things to Come HERE. […]