The Kestrel
Ratings2
Average rating3.5
15
Ratings2
Average rating3.5
Theo is traveling through Westmark, learning about the country of which he will soon be Prince Consort. He is not surprised to find great poverty-Mickle (now known as Princess Augusta) could have told him that from her years on the street. His friend Florian could have told him about the aristocracy's graft and corruption. But neither could have foreseen a loaded pistol in the practiced hand of the assassin Skeit. The echoes of that shot ring from the muskets and cannons of a Westmark suddenly at war-a war that turns simple, honest men into cold-blooded killers, Mickle into a military commander, and Theo himself into a stranger...
With war in Westmark and the assumption of the throne by Mickle, all Theo's talents are needed, as well as those of his former companions.
Reviews with the most likes.
Not enough of the key players. Not enough of the key players together.
If, in the first book, a band of misfits comes together by chance, then in this second book, our band of misfits disperse and travel (for the most part), parallel but separate paths.
Everyone is having an identity crisis while engulfed in war and chaos.
This is the book where the characters all grow up (we see a similar set-up in “Taran Wanderer” from The Prydain Chronicles).
I really liked how readers learned a little bit more about, for example, Florian, and that we got to follow Sparrow and Weasel; but, Las Bombas was under-used. Perhaps his folly was not appropriate in this book of bloodshed, but it was nonetheless missed.
Alexander uses The Kestrel as a medium to muse about politics and ideas of the monarchy; the solemn nature of government and “justice” is evident. Overall, the book was very serious in nature, not many laughs or outrageous escapades to be found here.
