Reign of Mist: A Satisfying Middle Book of a Trilogy

Reign of Mist was sent to me by author Helen Scheuerer via Book Funnel, so that I could catch up on the earlier books in the YA epic fantasy Oremere trilogy before participating in the blog tour for the final novel in the trilogy, War of the Mist. I reviewed the first volume, Heart of Mist on this blog here.   My non-spoiler review for Reign of Mist is below.

                       

   In Reign of Mist, the characters that were introduced in Heart of Mist are developed further.  This means that these familiar characters and their relationships are portrayed with more depth.  The characters that were new to me opened up doors that allowed me to understand more about Scheuerer's world.  I consider characterization the strongest talent of this author.  She understands people and how to make characters come alive for readers.

In the acknowledgements Helen Scheuerer states that Reign of Mist focuses on the bond between sisters.  There are characters who are sisters that are prominent in this book.  I can see how the sister bond inspired Scheuerer to write Reign of Mist, but for me the central issue is the difficulty of weighing the consequences of actions.  Indeed this  novel shows that in some circumstances, the full ramifications  of a decision may not even be imaginable.

The ending of Reign of Mist seemed more resolved than the first novel in the trilogy.   It didn't feel like a cliffhanger.   I also thought that this is what was supposed to happen.  It makes for a satisfying reading experience.