Following on the heels of Enna Burning, Bayern sends an ambassador to Tira to try and cement the uneasy peace. Razo, Enna, and Conrad are part of the expedition, and quickly discover someone is trying to frame the Bayerns on a series of murders and restart the war.

I really liked this one, but then I always love seeing the worldbuilding behind a new land. ( )

I think I like how this series is shaping up, staring with one characters story and just continuing to adjacent characters, telling the overall saga through new eyes each time.
Razo’s story is just about as interesting as Izzy’s, in my opinion, tho he is the first of our protagonists that has no magical abilities to communicate with a natural force. That isn’t to say the story isn’t full of different types of nature speech, as it starts up very shortly after the end of Enna Burning, and involves a tenuous peace between Bayern and Tira after the end of their war. The only problem is the growing number of mysteriously burned bodies that seems to point to Bayern’s “Fire Witch,” in a possible attempt to rekindle the flames of war. Razo has to unravel the mystery and decide who to trust before tensions boil over and fighting starts again.

Razo is a likeable character, his easy, self-deprecating manner helps him make friends among everyone from the pastry kitchen to the Tiran army, all the way up to the prince. As the action unfolds, we learn along with Razo what makes him special and what he’s really good at, and we watch him grow up and gain confidence in himself and his abilities.

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Hale redeems herself (from the travesty of Enna) by having a hero who is normal and likable. Although methinks that she is trying too hard to imitate Megan Whalen Turner... ( )

Razo is just so endearing. I especially enjoyed his tale at this point in my life, being away from my family, as he reminds me so much of my youngest brother. ( )

At the end of Enna Burning war had come to an end, but, as in reality, that doesn’t mean it is the end of all hostility between nations. River Secrets begins with an attempt on both sides to figure out if peace is really possible. There is a lot of bad blood, Bayern has in the past inflicted a lot of damage on Tira, not to mention how the war ended. Tira believes that Bayern was once part of Tira and still should be. And there are war-mongers in both countries. So a diplomatic exchange is arranged, and heading off to Tira is a group that includes Enna, Finn, & Razo.

Full review: http://www.susanhatedliterature.net/2010/06/22/river-secrets/ ( )