With magic being outlawed and punishable by death, he must keep his powers under wraps, especially now that his friend Prince Leontius has turned his back on him, taking away any form of royal favor or protection.

With Elanna’s powers exhausted from trying to restore the land, Jahan is forced to return to the court where he grew up to try and negotiate peace with the emperor.īut in Paladis, Jahan faces many challenges. The story takes us back to his homeland after he and Elanna’s time in Caeris is cut short by news that the empire of Paladis is planning an invasion. In The Memory of Fire, we get to find out exactly how Jahan developed his powers. We weren’t introduced to him until well into The Waking Land, and as a result, readers knew relatively little about his past and origins, except that he was a nobleman from Ida, and that unlike Elanna, he’s had a good grasp on his magical abilities since he was a child. Learning about a character’s background and the experiences that helped shaped him can do wonders to alter existing perceptions, and I was hoping this book would warm me up to Jahan. That being said, I was more than willing to give this novel a chance to change my mind. As far as I was concerned, Jahan was little more than a distraction and an excuse for a romantic side plot, so I can’t say I was all that thrilled when I started the book only to discover that not only was he the focus of the sequel, we were actually getting the entire story from his point-of-view. In fact, I came to downright detest him in the first book, as I found his personality to be incredibly dull and his romance with Elanna emotionally flat. Instead of carrying on with the story through the eyes of Elanna Valtai, the wonderful star of the previous novel, The Memory of Fire changes tack and approaches things from the perspective of her lover, Jahan Korakides-whom I’m nowhere near as fond of. So then, why didn’t I enjoy this second volume, especially since it continued to expand the overall series arc by exploring many of the same world-building and magical themes from the first book? The main reason: a different main character.

It has a decent premise, a well-written story not marred by any serious technical problems, and it is also sequel to a debut I really enjoyed last year, called The Waking Land. Writing a negative is never easy, and there are certain books that make me feel extra crummy about it because I know the problem lies solely within me and not in the book itself.

The Waking Land by Callie Bates