Tuesday, May 1, 2012

The Gray Wolf Throne - Seven Realms #3 - Cinda Williams Chima




We pick up the story a month after the battle between the troops of Gerard Montaigne and the soldiers of the kingdom of Tamron where Raisa almost got captured. Raisa’s been staying in a tavern in Fetters Ford for over a month now, in the hope that someone will come to take her home, but at the same time terrified that the assassins will find her. Her pseudonym Rebecca Morley is useless and she has to take on a new, unknown identity to survive. The Crown Princess is particularly worried that she will not make it back home in time and that her mother will make her younger sister Mellony the new heir to the throne.
At the same time Han Allister is traveling on the same route back to the Fells, summoned by the clans to get ready for a fight against the magicians at court. Everywhere Han asks about  the fate of his good friend Rebecca, who has become more than just a friend. Still in the dark about her true identity, Han gets a few tip that might lead to her. What happened to her? Was she really taken by Micah Bayar like Amon says?

Ultimately, the two meet again in a predicament that could mean the death of one of them. Will both survive? And how many attempts on her life can Raisa survive?
The political intrigue is reaching a climax in this third book of the Seven Realms series which, like its predecessors is a fantastic book that is very difficult to put aside. A large part of the book goes deeper into the emotions of Han and Raisa, the uncertainties for the future and the constant fear because death awaits them around every corner.

It's nice to see that after a series of 3 books the story is still on a very high level and knows to deliver and doesn’t get boring. It happens far too often that a story makes too many detours to drag it out over as many books as possible.
Seven Realms never gets boring and makes you long for the next book that will be published in the autumn (October) and will be called "The Crimson Crown".


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