| Daughter of Blood is the third book in Helen Lowe’s “Wall of Night” series, and the author has really got into her stride with this instalment. While familiarity with previous volumes may not be necessary to enjoy this volume that familiarity is highly desirable to fully understand the interplay of individual, intragroup and intergroup politics and shared history that imbues this book with such colour and depth. While reading this book I was minded of The Deed of Paksenarrion by Elizabeth Moon; another story with fractious and contending parties in a swordandsorcerytype setting – but this latter came away the poorer for the comparison. While Daughter of Blood sees Malian and Kalan continue their separate journeys to strengthen and save the land of the Derai from being overrun by the Swarm, reuniting in the land of their birth in only to part again, this book is principally Kalan’s story. Kalan most reluctantly and against his will gains a ward Faro; a child who is also an enigma in the context of Derai politics. At this point both Kalan and Faro’s lives go from interesting to complex and get more complex the longer they stay together. I found this book to be a really satisfying read, but I do hope the series ends with the next volume as the story is clearly on the home run at the conclusion of this volume.
|
