The Halls of Law have been destroyed, Kerida Nast has fled and found refuge in a community of cavern dwellers, and oh yeah, she bonded with a Griffin. In Gift of Griffins, V.M. Escalada picks up the vents almost exactly where she left them in Halls of Law, the first installment in The Faraman Prophecy. Ker’s burgeoning abilities may be her people’s best hope at quelling the Halian invaders.
The second book in the Faraman Prophecy epic fantasy series returns to a world of military might and magical Talents as Kerida Nast continues the quest to save her nation.
Kerida Nast and her companions have succeeded in finding Jerek Brightwing, the new Luqs of Farama, and uniting him with a part of his Battle Wings, but not all their problems have been solved. Farama is still in the hands of the Halian invaders and their Shekayrin, and it’s going to take magical as well as military strength to overcome them.
Unexpected help comes from Bakura, the Princess Imperial of the Halians, whose Gifts have been suppressed. As the Voice of her brother the Sky Emperor she has some political power over the Halian military, and she will use it to aid the Faramans, if Kerida can free her from what she sees as a prison. But whether Kerida can help the princess remains to be seen. If she succeeds, Bakura may prove their salvation. But should Kerida fail, all may be lost….
Kerida (Ker) isn’t the only heroine in this world, Princess Bakura is a new viewpoint character, almost another protagonist, whose own powers are emerging. Seeing as women who possess magical abilities aren’t exactly held in high regard by her people, she isn’t sure what to do with her powers. Further evidence of how little the Halians regard women (more a reminder as a major theme of Halls of Law was the Halian’s low regard for women) is that Bakura was shipped off to be a wife to the Luqs (or ruler of Farama, Ker’s people). Setting her as a viewpoint character gives a more intimate look into the Halians. In my review of Halls of Law, I suggested that more depth to the Halians needed to be revealed in order for them not to be just cardboard villains. That is one of the nice developments here in Gift of Griffins. We see more of their history, get a sense of their origins. This serves to flesh out the Halian society and even if it doesn’t make them sympathetic, the question of why their society functions is at least answered.
Meanwhile, Ker is trying to navigate through the remaining factions of power from her people. Her headstrong nature proves to be a bit of a problem with some of newer “elders” she encounters, but that force of will, her growing confidence in her magical abilities, help to unite her allies in what amounts to a revolt against the Halians. Thankfully, her friend Tel who was with her through much of the previous volume is still here with her, providing support both on an emotional level and even on a magical level.
The ”puppet” ruler of Farama, Jerek turned out to be an interesting character as well. The young man knows he’s on thin ice and needs to obey the people propping him up, but his burgeoning magical abilities gives him a way to rebel and help his people. It also allows him to communicate with his soon-to-be wife Bakura. He takes risks along the way.
Prophecy is a driving force of this novel, specifically the prophecy surrounding Kerida and her relationship to the griffins. Part of her role in the prophecy is to unite her people in some way, but at times, Kerida leans a little too much on the prophecy. That is, it takes her a bit of the story time to realize that she can act in certain ways and do certain things because of who she is rather than expecting them to happen because of who she is. It serves as a nice shift in her character, which was already at quite a high gear of velocity already. On the other hand, as is often the case with Prophecy, what it means isn’t always what the characters initially think it to be.
I don’t often say this, but there is no way to jump into this book without having read the previous/first book in the series. Much of what Esclada laid out in Halls of Law bears fruit here in the second novel. While each character faced their own complications and there was some predictability, I felt the characters earned what came to them.
In many ways, Gift of Griffins felt like the final third of the story, with the first two thirds having been told in Halls of Law. I also felt the climax of the novel came about very quickly, compared to how the preceding majority of the novel was paced. There is a definite sense of closure to the story so I’m not sure what direction Escalada will take further books in the series, if The Faraman Prophecy was a duology, or one large novel split into to two. Regardless of how you cut these two books, they tell a fun, and engaging story. I’d be happy to read more about these characters and the world they inhabit because it seems like Escalada has only scratched the surface of the world and these characters.
© 2018 Rob H. Bedford
Hardcover, 352 Pages
Published by DAW, August 2018
Review copy courtesy of the publisher
