Nick

I had big expectations going in to this book, and it surpassed every one of them. I never lost interest. Not once. The only thing I'm disappointed in was that I didn't get to read it cover to cover. All the 80's pop culture references really fed my nostalgia, and what I didn't recognize, I found myself looking up. He also really did a great job of building the world and creating it's own history. Every geek should read this book.

After how amazing the first book was, how could I not dive right into the next. Taking place about 20 years later after the first, it's amazing to see how the world has changed. I love how the focus shifted to a member of the Clayr, and we get to dive into more of their history and lore, which is all too awesome. There's even more mysteries to discover and left me wanting even more, in the best way possible. It keeps the pace perfectly and hidden histories coming, which I'm always a big fan of.

I love my books about marine biology, ecology and history. What this book did right, was spot on. Unfortunately, I had to filter through a bunch of unnecessary info to get to it. It felt as though about a third of the book was taken up by him referencing, quoting and telling the history of Herman Melville (author of Moby Dick). I got so tired of hearing about him, that I was skipping whole pages sometimes to get to the good stuff. I know his work was strongly influenced by actual experience in and around the whaling industry, but I didn't buy a book about Melville, I bought it about whales. Sure, they go hand in hand a lot, but maybe the book should be called “History of whales and Melville”. Beyond that, it was extremely well written. I loved the way he romantic described whales and his experience with them. There was a lot of good history on the whaling industry and he goes pretty in depth to some of the whales biology. All in all, I'd recommend it, as long as you're also a HUGE Moby Dick fan.

The first book in the series set a good pace for understanding the world and really gathering what a Blade is. Though this book, the second in the series, mostly involves a country that's at war with them, was so good! The Baels are a dynamic, honourable, and brutal people. I'm blown away by how much I enjoyed their society more than the Chivics. Except for the the Blades. Blades are pretty much like Jedi, without the Force. Badass swordsmen that are the best around. Even the weakest Blade is better than your average swordsman.
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That being said, this story went through a few different generations and really brought more understanding to the magic system and politics that Duncan has created. As much as I enjoyed the first book, this one makes me want to binge the rest of them. I'm surprised I don't hear more about this series, because it feels like a hidden gem.

There's so much I can say about this books. I loved Shadow. I loved his depth, his mannerisms, the way he thought about things and the person Gaiman made him be. The others characters were unique and believable. It found my heart and tugged at the strings and kept me interested from the first page. It leaves me both satisfied and wanting more. I loved it.