Voice of the Lost: Medair Part 2

E-publishing definitely has advantages and one of them is being able to read this author. I read both the Medair books recently and have ordered everthing else this author has written. Excellent character creation, great new world, -- just enormously appealing books. Ill buy everything else she writes in future as well. Style is somewhere between Michelle Sagara and Robin McKinley but her voice is her own. One of my best reads this year.

So this is the second book in a two-parter. So if you havent picked up book one then you will probably be very lost. The books (both 1&2) raised some very interesting questions, and really showed the thought process and pain the main character was going through. I really liked that it made me wonder how I would go about the situation if I was in it. The romance was a bit predictable and kinda abrupt but I liked it. So the ending bit was a bit odd. I have read other says that the second book was more focused on the romance and the story suffered for it. I think I Iean toward that thought as well. The story did feel like it was stuffed around the edges of the romance between the two main characters, and some of it was only to drive their relationship forward. Overall I recommend the 2 books they were very interesting, even if I feel the second book missed the mark a bit.

Good story - enjoyable premise but the writing style is bulky and stands in the way of an enjoyable story.

Read VOICES OF THE LOST after THE SILENCE OF MEDAIR; it follows immediately chronologically, and in an ideal world the two should have been published as a single work. However, the external plot twists in new directions from SILENCE -- working out the plot structure of the two books is a fascinating exercise. The only criticism I have is that I cant imagine, given the pace and timing of exhausting events, why the hero isnt flat on his back from exhaustion (which, considering events in the first book, it seems as if he should be).

Andrea K Hosts The Silence of Medair was definitely one of my top reads of this year, and I was very excited to get my hands on the sequel so soon after I read the first book (score for self-publishing!). This sequel is a very enjoyable continuation of the story, but one of the things that kept jumping out at me is how weird the pacing is compared to most fantasy novels (not that thats a bad thing!). The storys highs and lows are based on Medairs emotional investment in events--thus the last book ended on a momentous decision she made, not the conclusion of war, and in this book the war started and finished in the very beginning. In most books, I think, the first book would have just been a bit longer, and the story would have ended there. But Medair still has some major emotional issues to work out (did she support the right side? is she a traitor? is it okay for her to deeply care about some of the White Snakes?), so the story continues. There is another potentially world-shattering event that functions as the climax of this story, but even that seems to matter most in the context of Medairs personal growth. The conclusion was wonderfully unexpected--and showed how much Medair has really grown over the course of the two novels--though in retrospect I can see how it was somewhat hinted at throughout the story (Im not telling you how it ends; read and find out!). All in all, Medairs story is a very satisfying example of how to write about epic and fantastical events without being epic fantasy--this is a character-driven novel through and through, and Id love to read more stories written in this manner. That being said, I still want to find out more about Medairs later life! Ms. Host leaves herself plenty of room to write another book set in this world--Id say most likely from the princes perspective--and while I dont think such a book is in the works, I will keep hoping!