Up Jim River

[b:Up Jim River 7063585 Up Jim River (January Dancer, #2) Michael Flynn http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1316129442s/7063585.jpg 7315893] is the second book in [a:Michael Flynn 126502 Michael Flynn http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1282631351p2/126502.jpg]'s Spiral Arm series. It picks up after the events of [b:The January Dancer 3437316 The January Dancer (January Dancer, #1) Michael Flynn http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1316130421s/3437316.jpg 3478325] with Mearana (the Harper) and Donovan (the Scarred Man) as they set out to find Mearana's mother. Her mother is none other than “Hound” Bridget-Ban, the super-agent who played a major role in The January Dancer. It seems that Bridget-Ban has gone missing for about two years. Her organization, the Kennel, which is the intelligence arm of the League, has given up the search for her. Or have they?Donovan who saved the day at the end of The January Dancer subsequently was broken by his former masters, “Those of Name” who control the Confederation, the other major power of the series. (The Confederation are opposed to the League, and seem to be the bad guys in the series.) As a result of the mistreatment he endured, Donovan has become a scarred and seemingly useless drunk with 7 personalities warring in his head.Mearana and Donovan travel from planet to planet into the “wild” tracing clues to her mother's fate. As they get deeper into the raw frontier, things get dangerous. Along the way they have multiple adventures, and they are joined by others, who provide skills or knowledge necessary for the journey. However, these fellow travelers have their own agendas and, some may not be trustworthy.Flynn is a very skillful writer. He deftly weaves some tropes more common to fantasy into this story without it being incongruous in any way. I had a few laugh out loud moments.I listened to audible versions of the first two books in this series. The narration was acceptable, but I think the multiple characters were really too much for the single narrator. I plan to shift to text for the final two books in the series.