I liked it; it was good
I loved the first book so much I started following this author, eagerly awaiting the continuation of this saga, and here it is!
Read: July 27 – July 29, 2024
Genre: Science Fiction Fantasy, Space Opera
Audience: Young Adult
Book contains: tyranny, traitor, paranoia, nightmares, anxiety, betrayal
Purchase a copy from Amazon.ca
[I received a free copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review.]
Serena and her friend Via can no longer return to Earth, and after her trip to the Divine Augury, Serena knows what she has to do. She needs to find the Heart of the Meridian, a special stone that can trap immortality. With hunters and Draconias on her tail, she joins forces with the rest of the Pegasus crew to fight back—but what can they do with a traitor in their midst?
It’s been so long since I read the first book in this series that it took me a while to get back into it. It’s not the sort of book that holds your hand and reintroduces you to things; it jumps right in, and you’d better know how to swim. I kind of like that, too.
This book begins with a prologue about the main villain and something that happened way in the past. Until the end, it’s unclear how this prologue connects to the main story, but boy is it something! The rest of the book progresses chronologically in limited third person perspective as it switches between characters. The only character whose consciousness you really dive into is Serena; the others have things to hide.
I once again downloaded the eBook version of this book and used the Read Aloud function to listen along as I did some monotonous work over the weekend (catching up). It made things much more interesting!
Serena is a character with some secrets, so she fits right in with the crew in this book! So many of them have secrets of their own, some of which are shared and some which are not. Who is the traitor? Who can Serena trust? These are some of the questions Serena must face as she continues her search.
Serena is, of course, the main character, with Ross as her main love interest. Via and Lena and some of the other characters take a bit of a back seat in this book, though they’re still vital to the overall storyline. New alliances are forged, but unfortunately, her actions in book 1 have brought Draconias’s full attention to her, and the best hunter has been brought out of retirement to capture her.
This lively, high-stakes adventure is perfect for a young adult audience. Though the characters are a bit older than this audience’s range, the plot, characters, storylines, and writing all point to this readership.
The main characters are on the run, and that urgency is reflected in the pace. Things are always happening, one after another, with hints and clues sprinkled in throughout the interweaving plots. They all come together in the end, and we’re left on quite the cliffhanger!
Totally recommend this series to lovers of space, and readers who enjoy the mixing of magic and science!
*The 13th Zodiac Saga Book 1: Keepers of the Zodiac by Natalie Brianne*
*The 13th Zodiac Saga Book 2: The Heart of the Meridian by Natalie Brianne*
*Draconian Sun Book 1: Navigators of Draconis by Jake Ashwell*
*The Palladium by Thorsten Brandl*
The Robin Trilogy Book 1: Robin’s Flight by Breanne Leftwich
Tigerpetal Press is a small book press dedicated to publishing local authors and poets.