I had to start this at once when I got it. I just had to know what would happen!

Book 1 ended with a cliffhanger, still a cliffhanger that I could live with since the city was under siege. All good for now. But it was just the kind of book that you just crave more, you need to know how the story will end.

As this is fantasy there are many threads and people but I will mention a few. Sorne, the half-blood in the enemy camp who watches the king become more and more crazy. Imoshen who is chosen to make terms with the king. She has a brain, she wants more for her people. The whole Brotherhood against Sisterhood can't last. I have hopes for her.

Then there are others, siblings on an island who does not know that there is a deadline. Leave the country or die! An evil Baron trying to claim power. A member of the Brotherhood realizing how bad their leader is. All coming together in one good plot.

This story is all with trying to stay alive. The "humans" does not want them their. They will kill them all, they want them gone. But can they leave? And how? Daniells had me on needles as I read this book and had my heart in my throat. I love how dark the world is, and how stupid the humans are. That might be strange to say but it does make it more thrilling. They are so stuck in their ways, racists that does not like people being different. It made me hate them so much. Most are willing to slaughter a whole people. And the point is that the people that they hate are not really that different. If all of them leave half-bloods will still be born, yes they are all the same. That is just sad.

It's a rich world filled with conflict and even if I say that the "humans" are bad does not make the other guys good. But at least they only kill each other. Their society can't last they way it is. The T'en on top, the half-bloods under them and men and women leaving separately.

In the end I can't wait to see how this all comes together. Can they survive this hostile world? And can they come to live peacefully among themselves? I can't wait to find out as I need to read the next book. I need to know. ( )

(Book gifted by author in exchange for honest review)

♦ What I Liked. I could just say everything but that would make for a boring review so let us see if I can elaborate without too much gushing and spoiling.

Politics: Everything I love and more. The greedy, angry, vengeful, power hungry players in this drama are dangerous, conniving and ruthless. Balancing them are the selfless, protective, loyal folks who want nothing more than to preserve the greater good.

Cultural diversity: Plenty of that too. The rich, the poor, the magical, the mystical and the mundane. Each culture has its own set of rules, rituals, customs and their own view on the world. Some are content, some feel helpless to affect change, while others realize change is possible by taking small steps. Others flat out rebel. And as I indicated in my first review, prejudice, jealousy and flat out hatred run rammant. Plus there is a fair amount of gender bias thrown in to spice things up a bit.

Action/Adventure: As with most culturally diverse societies there is constant conflict and often out and out war. There are rebels, spies, double agents, factions within factions; all waiting for their chance to turn the tide. There is murder, rape, poison, ambush, lies and betrayals. You know the evil villains are evil but they still surprise you with the lengths they will go to get what they want. You know the heroic people are heroic but the depth of their sacrifices will surprise you also. But the best of all is the smart folks who know when to move forward and when to stand still, even when what is going on secretly breaks their heart. With all of this going on, it is impossible to tell what will happen next.

That wasn't too gushy was it? I hope not because I think I may have pulled something in the process of restraining myself!

♦ What I didn't like. With familiarity some empathy with the characters is going to develop. I personally would have liked a bit more. I also realize that when you have a huge cast of characters involved in complex, multilayered situations, character development is a distant concern at best. Instead of spending time shifting through thoughts and feelings in search of motivations, you find them instead in bits and pieces of the character's history. This leads to alot of "ah ha!" moments which can be fun all on their own. Not a major complaint and not enough to deduct a star. More of a heads up for character-driven purists. You will like, hate, feel sympathy or feel indifferent but I doubt you'll love any of these characters. Which is a good thing because alot of them have a habit of ending up dead.

♦ My Thoughts. My reading tastes are in some ways, pretty narrow. I prefer series, I prefer epic, high, or sword and sorcery. Within those categories I become more lenient. I adore character-driven fantasy. I love political intrigue. I enjoy action/adventure. I'll tolerate romance as long as it is not the main focus. I even enjoy military fantasy though I may not understand it completely.

On worldbuilding I'm kinda weird. I'm not visual. Descriptions of architecture, landscapes, clothing, furnishings etc. are fairly lost on me. On the other hand, religious, political, social, and cultural descriptions I soak up like a sponge.

Where I am going with all this is I think that the worldbuilding here was just about perfect. At no time did I flip pages impatiently looking for "the story" to continue. I did get the impression that there were some beautiful, lovingly rendered settings throughout the book. I am just not wired to appreciate them. For the those who love meticulous detail, I think you will enjoy what you find.

♦ Conclusion. I am on a roll. This is yet another book which does NOT suffer from middle book syndrome. If anything it flowed so much better than Besieged because the learning curve has been conquered. Epic Fantasy lovers everywhere really should give this series a try. I can't imagine that book three is going to be anything except better.

Original post on Dragons, Heroes and Wizards ( )

Exile is the second book in Rowena Cory Daniells's Outcast Chronicles. You can read my review of the first book, Besieged, here. A copy of this book was provided by the author for review purposes.



Exile picks up not long after Besieged left off. If you've read the first book, this one is definitely a continuation of the same story. There are some new characters introduced but mostly Exile follows the, ahem, surviving characters of Besieged. I have the feeling The Outcast Chronicles suffer less from absolutely needing to be read in order than some fantasy series. Yes, reading Exile first will spoil many events in Besieged, but in terms of understanding what's happening, I think it wouldn't be too bad.

That said, this review contains spoilers for events in Besieged.

Where book one spanned something like twenty-five years from start to finish, book two only covers two-ish rather tumultuous years. It continues to portray interesting and unusual sexual/gender politics in terms of women having more power in T'En culture because of their stronger magic. The T'En being segregated into sisterhoods and brotherhoods causes more tension in this book than the previous. Before it was just generalised bitterness on the part of the men that the women had more power and worry on the part of the women that the men were physically stronger. Now external factors are causing changes to their society which in tern generates a different kind of tension. It's all rather interesting and the gendered power structures among the T'En and the contrasting power structures of the humans (where women are chattel and lucky if their husbands don't beat and rape them) are a compelling reason to pick up this series. That and the fact that it's an excellent yarn.

The Mieren (ordinary human) threat is shaking up T'En society and forcing change upon them, something which only Imoshen seems capable of taking in her stride. After being elected causare, the negotiator for the all-mothers and all-fathers, she manages to broker a deal with the ailing King Charald to allow the T'En to go into exile, rather than be slaughtered. Many T'En are disappointed with this decision, which causes much dissonance among their ranks.

Sorne, now secretly serving as Imoshen's spy among King Charald's men, was a much less conflicted character than in the first book. The main tension in his story arises from trying to help the T'En without outing himself to the Mieren, rather than trying to work out who he is. For me, that made him a more sympathetic character in the sense that his motivations weren't in question.

I feel that almost everyone who isn't a point of view character (or close friends/family of a point of view character) is a terrible person, generally lacking in anything approximating compassion. This was more stark than in the first book, not because the horrible people are more horrible but because the morally ambiguous characters are out of the picture for various reasons. There are so many travesties committed by aforementioned terrible people that it bordered on getting a bit much. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't gratuitous and it was in keeping with plot and characterisation, but by-gods more than just wanting to slap annoying characters, I wanted to watch some of them die slow and painful deaths, preferably at the hands of the people they were horrible to. Which is a mark of Daniells's skill as a writer.

With Exile I am continuing to enjoy the Outcast Chronicles. I was originally planning to read something else before getting into Sanctuary, the third book, but whoops, I couldn't not pick up book 3 as soon as I finished Exile. (Not that it was a cliffhanger, but the story is definitely unfinished.) I highly recommend this series to lovers of fantasy.

4.5 / 5 stars

You can read more of my reviews on my blog ( )