This is the sequel to Waterborn and closes out the series. In it, Hezhi and Perkar's flight from the River/Changeling continues and its a doozy. Shamanic initiation, angst, etc. are only some of the events in the book.

I liked it because it continued to flesh out the world (and it looks like Keyes lifted Pleistocene era fauna for some of the monsters), as well as the characters. Particularly, it fleshed out Yen/Ghe the assassin from Waterborn who has a new role in this book. It also fleshed out Ghan, the librarian from the book as well. Both are taken from their places of power and into new environments and that makes it interesting.

About the only thing I didn't like was the ending, but it was good. Keyes lays the groundwork for it, but doesn't point it out for the reader. Still, it did jar, but it opened up a happy ending.

Anyway, I highly recommend this book to fantasy fans.

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My dad read this and then recommended to me. He said you don't need to have read the first to read this sequel, and he was right. I really enjoyed it, even though there were some new words I had to guess the meaning of from the context, I found the writing creative yet comfortable to read. The author looks younger and cooler than most, based on the flap, and he is an anthropologist, which adds more depth to the fantasy world we've entered. The world is a place where people revere their gods, but are also able to interact with them, it reminds me of the Greek mythologies I read as a kid. I liked that the author made a straight trip across the map interesting enough to last throughout the book. I didn't like that there were two points where he just used a letter from the main character or a memory to jump forward a month and summarize what had happened, it made it seem like he didn't take the time to expand those parts of the story and the way he wrote the rest of the book.

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A direct sequel to 'The Waterborn,' this follows the story of Hezhi and Perkar, as different forces pull them this way and that way, each trying to use them for their own ends. There's a quest to destroy the god of the River - but is it the right thing to do? Meanwhile, a ghoul that was formerly a man pursues them, leaving death and destruction in its wake...
I liked the book, but it wasn't as good as the first one, I thought. I felt that some of the magic and spirituality scenes got a little lengthy, and while it was interesting to try to figure out different characters' motivations, at times it got a little unfocused and confusing. For a quest story where a large part of the concept was that the reader isn't sure who's in the right or what the outcome should be, the end feels a little too... ordinary, I thought.

It was still good, and I'll try the author's 'Newton's Cannon' next, even though on the face of it, it doesn't seem like it will be my favorite type of book...

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