Feast of Souls and Wings of Wrath

Right now, I'm reading a fantasy novel called, Feast of Souls by C.S. Friedman. I last read this book maybe two years ago and I loved it. I just happened upon it by the register of Barnes & Noble and picked it up impulsively. Well, I've been waiting and waiting for the sequel to come out, which it finally did. Wings of Wrath was such a -- well, is disappointment too strong of a word? Perhaps. I simply could not remember who any of the characters were and found that not knowing, well, how could I care for them. This is why I'm rereading the first of the series, Feast of Souls. I actually like this book and I do care about the characters, and there is an interesting point to the book -- what is the cost to doing magic? What if the cost were another's life. Each time you do magic, you drain precious minutes away from another random and faceless person's life. Would you do it? Of course, the answer is yes, but no one outside the select group of Magisters know of this source of their magic. The first book looks at the journey toward becoming a Magister of one young girl. This in itself is unknown as females are never Magisters. At the same time, we are introduced to an alternate world, not dissimilar from our own but set in a middle ages sort of time where horses and feet are the only modes of transportation and you sleep at roadside inns complete with tavern keeper's daughters, etc. A major catch here is that there are horrid creatures which resemble dragonflies, and which gain sustenance by sucking the souls out of humans. These creatures no longer pose a threat because they've been "herded" to the far north, a frozen land, and they are kept in place by the Wrath, a set of rocky projections that emit a feeling of dread that none can cross, including the creatures, the Souleaters. All in all, a rich story. Unfortunately, the sequel does a very poor job of reminding the reader of any of these points and instead relies upon the fact that all readers will be experts and have recently, in anticipation of the second book's release, reread the first. Hence, I am, being a faithful and loyal book reader, doing just that.




Genre: Fantasy



Rating: Feast of Souls - ****



            Wings of Wrath - ***