Of Blood and Bone
Jan. 15th, 2025 03:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alobearOf Blood and Bone is Book Two in the Chronicles of the One series by Nora Roberts, whose books I have been very much enjoying the last couple of years.
And this was a solid entry into the canon - though it did fall foul of some 'middle book of a trilogy' issues. It mostly follows Fallon Swift (who is The One, destined to bring balance back to the world after a magical pandemic has killed more than 50% of the global population and given rise to magical powers in a lot of people, some of whom are - gasp! - evil!) through her two-year training montage, as her mentor, Mallick, gets her ready to build and take charge of an army of the light.
Which is all fine.
My favourite parts of the first book, though, were the ensemble bits that took place in the town of New Hope, and those characters shift rather into the background here. They are in it a bit (and more so towards the end) but not enough for me.
It all rather feels like prep-work for the great battle I'm sure will come in Book Three, and it's perhaps drawn out a bit too much to fill a book on its own, when there's not all that much going on.
Also, the teen love interest, Duncan, has some serious issues with consent!! These are forcibly pointed out to him, but he does not learn!! I guess I should just be glad he's actually seventeen and not 300 years old... And I did like how both he and Fallon are annoyed by what 'fate' apparently has in store for them...
Anyway, I'll definitely be listening to the final instalment some time soon (the audiobook narrator for the whole series is very good) and I still enjoyed this book overall - just not as much as most of the other Nora Roberts books I've read, and certainly not nearly as much as the first book in this series. Here's hoping for a return to form for Book Three!
And this was a solid entry into the canon - though it did fall foul of some 'middle book of a trilogy' issues. It mostly follows Fallon Swift (who is The One, destined to bring balance back to the world after a magical pandemic has killed more than 50% of the global population and given rise to magical powers in a lot of people, some of whom are - gasp! - evil!) through her two-year training montage, as her mentor, Mallick, gets her ready to build and take charge of an army of the light.
Which is all fine.
My favourite parts of the first book, though, were the ensemble bits that took place in the town of New Hope, and those characters shift rather into the background here. They are in it a bit (and more so towards the end) but not enough for me.
It all rather feels like prep-work for the great battle I'm sure will come in Book Three, and it's perhaps drawn out a bit too much to fill a book on its own, when there's not all that much going on.
Also, the teen love interest, Duncan, has some serious issues with consent!! These are forcibly pointed out to him, but he does not learn!! I guess I should just be glad he's actually seventeen and not 300 years old... And I did like how both he and Fallon are annoyed by what 'fate' apparently has in store for them...
Anyway, I'll definitely be listening to the final instalment some time soon (the audiobook narrator for the whole series is very good) and I still enjoyed this book overall - just not as much as most of the other Nora Roberts books I've read, and certainly not nearly as much as the first book in this series. Here's hoping for a return to form for Book Three!
