Book Review
Title: Broken Web by Lori M. Lee (Shamanborn Book 2)
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: 4.25 Stars
The opening to Broken Web picks up almost immediately where the first book ended, with Sirscha and Saengo along with Prince Meilek travelling to the Nuvali capital, Mirrim. There they hope to find the answers they are seeking about the Soulless and how to destroy him once and for all but also to find Kendara and heal Saengo. Prince Meilek isn’t travelling all the way with them as he needs to reach out to his allies before returning home to deal with his sister but he and Sirscha will stay in touch. In the capital they are taken to the temple of light where they meet Kyshia, the Ember Princess and the second most powerful shaman in the empire. Through her they learn the empire has known about the Soulless for centuries and they now want Sirscha to dispatch him quickly and quietly before the secret can get out which infuriates both Sirscha and Saengo. However, Sirscha is still pretending to be a soulguide and can’t blow her cover.
Within the Nuvali empire, Sirscha seems glimpses of Kendara but she doesn’t make herself known yet. Meanwhile, they meet with they try to track down Phaut’s father in order to return her sword to him but he is away with family following the funeral so it will be returned to her sister who is a guard at the Bright Palace. Sirscha does end up meeting Kendara who explains that her mother was saved by Kendara when they tried to kill her for being a soulrender until she lost control of her powers after giving birth to Sirscha. Kendara took Sirscha hid her identity and her own in order to fulfil the promise she made to Sirscha’s mother. However, Kendara wants to her to flee with Saengo and not help the empire that took so much from all of them but Sirscha knows that the Soulless is a bigger threat and can’t do that pretty much ending their relationship. The Soulless also reaches out to her in a dream to see what her intentions are and urges her to ask questions about him since the version of the truth she has been told might not be the right one. She soon learns though the Evewyn is making moves to attack the Kazan empire and since Theyen is engaged to the Ember Princess they must respond as one.
The web of secrets is ever expanding with everything that Sirscha is learning. She knows that there is a potential alliance between Queen Meilyr and the Soulless which Prince Meilek almost confirms but he does mention she would want assurances to prevent the Soulless turning against her. After another attempted assassination by a Shadowblessed, they decide to turn this one over to Theyen to be questioned while Prince Meilek returns to Evewyn. Sirscha is also going to head south to learn what she can about the alliance between the Queen and the Soulless but promises not to kill despite wanting to. It seems that there are several people that either don’t want Meilek, Sirscha or both around and that might be an issue with what is to come. Sirscha also needs to learn more about the Soulless before he became what he is now and that might only be done by talking to him again.
However, when Sirscha gets permission to travel south with Theyen to meet Queen Meilyr’s army stationed off the coast she jumps at the chance. She ends up going with Theyen’s party to answer he summons to talk, leader to leader, which the Queen will only accept if Sirscha is there. Everyone knows it is a trap going into it but Theyen claims to have a trick or two up his sleeve. On the ship, Sirscha immediately senses the Soulless’ magic coming from a talisman around the Queen’s waist and she soon realises that it houses the soul of the Soulless’ familiar which is the reassurance Prince Meilek was talking about. Sirscha does try to destroy it but her magic can’t reach it, I think the cage the soul is housed in is made from the bones of Sunspears, the only dragon-like animal whose inert ability was to stop a soulrender from taking its soul which would make sense since Theyen mentioned them earlier. The Queen offers a deal to Sirscha where she will give her and Saengo full pardons if they turn over Prince Meilek to her but Sirscha refuses not trusting a thing the Queen says. This leads to a brief battle where Theyen summons wyverns to attack the ships but Sirscha accidentally exposes herself as a soulrender and has to flee with Saengo into the mountains of Kazan. Sirscha is now also aware of the fact that the assassination attempts weren’t for her but they were the Queen’s attempt at capturing Saengo as that would give her the means to control Sirscha.
On the run, Sirscha and Saengo head back towards the Dead Wood as few would dare to follow them into the trees especially now Ronin is dead. However, Saengo wants to go home and convince her father to help Prince Meilek which Sirscha knows is necessary but she also doesn’t want Saengo to leave. When they finally part Sirscha heads back to Spinner’s End alone but it takes less than a day before the Soulless knows she is there and draws her to him over the next few days Sirscha learns all she can about the talisman and the Soulless, learning who he was before he became the monster he is and she sympathises with him in a sense but she knows to have any chance of stopping him she needs to be stronger, far stronger than she is now. While training in The Dead Wood to unleash her power in ways she hasn’t before, Theyen appears before tackling her into a shadow gate.
This book is definitely moving at a faster pace than the last one and I can’t wait to see how Lori M. Lee sets up the final book. The pieces are coming together but it still feels like Sirscha is missing a vital piece of information as we sped towards the climax. With every passing day the Soulless is getting more powerful and they now have a vengeful Queen to deal with as Prince Meilek makes open moves against her finally standing up for what he truly believes. The biggest thing to happen for me personally was Sirscha realises that she isn’t alone and that she does have a family but it is one she chose in Saengo, Theyen and Prince Meilek rather than one she was given by blood but it is just as powerful. She also majorly gets past the fear of her craft and while she has used it to kill a person since being on the Queen’s ship she has gotten way more powerful enough to begin to challenge the Soulless.
In the final few chapters we see the pieces come together as Sirscha frees the soul in the talisman only to realise it wasn’t the Soulless’ familiar but his brother who he wanted to restore to life. For that betrayal he kills the Queen and Sirscha finally understands that the trees are his familiars and he has more than one thanks to the experiments the Empire performed on him. Afterwards, Prince Meilek is in charge and summoning his allies back to the capital and Sirscha now has to think of a way to truly destroy the Dead Wood once and for all. Overall, I really enjoyed the character arcs in this instalment and it managed to avoid the dreaded middle book syndrome. I honestly can’t wait to get into Calling of Light and see how the final showdown between Sirscha and the Soulless goes.
Buy it here:
Paperback/Hardcover: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
Kindle Edition: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
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