Book Review: Wrayth

Wrayth

By:  Philippa Ballantine

Publisher:  Ace Books

Publish Date:  August 28, 2012

Format:  Paperback, pocketbook size 309pgs

Genre:  Urban Fantasy

Series:  3rd in A Book of the Order series; 1st Book ~ Geist, 2nd Book ~ Spectyr

Recommendation:  Heck Yea!  This is the tale you've been waiting for in this series.  All the pieces we've stumbled across with Sorcha and Merrick are coming together in this gripping adventure with broken bonds of old and new.

Synopsis:
In the Empire of Arkaym, the Order of Deacons protects and shelters the citizens from attacks by the unliving.  All are swarn to fight the evil forces of the geists -- and to keep the world safe from the power of the Otherside...

Although she is one of the most powerful Deacons in the Order, Sorcha Faris is still unable to move or speak after her last battle.  Even her partner, Merrick Chambers, cannot reach her through their shared Bond.  Yet there are those who still fear Sorcha and the mystery of her hidden past.

Meanwhile, Merrick has been asked to investigate a new member of the Emperor's Court.  But when Sorcha is abducted by men seeking Raed Rossin, the shapeshifting rival to the throne, Merrick must choose where his loyalties lie.

First Sentence:
In the time when the earth bucked and heaved, many secrets were revealed -- some were for good; some were most definitely for ill.

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My Thoughts and Summary:
After the battle ending Spectyr two months ago Sorcha's old partner, Garil, lets her be taken by Aachon to find the Pretender, and the Rossin, to see if another can help heal her from her immortality that he believes is paralyzing her, stuck in her immobile body.  The bond that's blocked as well, Sorcha is easily taken without alarm, unknown to her partner Merrick and any others.  Merrick is called upon by the Emperor's sister, Dutchess Zofiya, to look into the Emperor's new visitor who does not set well with her nerves, Lord Vancy del Rue, which Merrick recognizes and is alarmed to his presence.  Raed's been fighting and dodging bounty hunters due to the raised bounty on his head trying to help while tracking his sister as her and Tanguyre Greene are stirring for a rebellion everywhere they go.  To get to where he is, he's invited the Rossin to the front of his mind to help.  Dangerous, but Raed feels it's a needed resource to save the Emperor and the land he rules.

Merrick will have to pick the strong bond and his partner or the Order where he's wanted to be while finding peace saving others from geists.  Raed maybe in danger from the Rossin, who's a powerful resource with what the world is coming to.  Sorcha will learn of her blank past before the Order, it might help with the turns in the world, or it might consume her.

We start with a pair of young Deacons go missing while on site of cracked earth from an earth quake at a temple of the ancients founding a deadly creature of water, not seen with the sight of a Deacon, and the dead.  This comes up later in the book as it's important, you just don't know it until later.   This drew me in with new (old) happenings and made me curious.

Ah, nice to visit each of our trio in person again.  All the characters are finding themselves in complicated and compromising situations.  As they slowly fall victim to things they don't see or know I hold my breath waiting, wondering, if they will find each other and help each other or not know they all are in trouble.  Life and death trouble.

I'm taken with the further would building and defining of geistlords with Raed's mess and Sorcha's paralyzing predicament due to a gift received in Spectyr.  But I'm caught with Merrick and the surfacing troubles with the Order of the Circle of Stars.  This is interesting to watch it unfold and the connections to past and where Raed and Sorcha are at and dealing with.

There is so much with this series, world, and little repeat (which is a very good thing) that I'd like to read all these books closer together in time to remember it all.  This made the beginning a touch tough remembering the troubles but once you are with Sorcha, Merrick, and Raed again working to protect the world, you can't stop reading and the hints of past are embedded in the story as you go.  Philippa is great at reminding you as you go of the past you need.  The depth of the world and situations come back as you go.  Have faith in Philippa as you start and all will come to you.

All the pieces we've stumbled across with Sorcha and Merrick are coming together in this gripping adventure with broken bonds of old and new.  This book brings all happenings in Geist and Spectyr together with an old Order looking to advance and take advantage, upping the stacks in the political world and safety of many.  The history is surfacing and maybe a select special few can stop it from taking over.  Once you are sucked into the dilemma's of our trio, you won't stop until you know how it ends.  The best of the series thus far!



*I received a copy of this book for review from the publisher for an honest review.