Welcome back, Readers! I hope the holiday season is treating you well so far!
This month we’re taking a look at the next book in the Frith Chronicles. I absolutely love this series and you can find Spotlights on the prior three books here, Knightmare Arcanist, Dread Pirate Arcanist, and Colosseum Arcanist.
I highly recommend you check out the prior three books before getting into this one, obviously! And, as per usual when we’re looking at a book that’s in a series, spoilers beyond this point for prior entries. You’ve been warned!
Without further adieu, let’s get into it!
Book Stats
- Author: Shami Stovall.
Formats: Hardcover, Paperback, Kindle, and Audible.
Price: $24.99 for Hardcover, $18.99 for Paperback, $5.99 for Kindle, and $21.83 for Audible, or one Credit on Audible.
Length: 622 pages or 17 hours 30 minutes in audio format.
Narrator: Brian Wiggins
Number of books in the series: 8 in the Frith Chronicles but Shami Stovall is an extremely prolific
author with a number of books set in this same world and others.
Basic Premise
Volke Savan is having a rough time of it to say the absolute least. In the last book, he made a wonderful new friend who is now dead; killed before his very eyes. The city he was in was taken over by an evil organization hell-bent on spreading an incurable magical plague. He was infected with said plague and thus has to separate himself from his friends and sister to avoid potentially spreading it to them. This also means leaving the Frith Guild, which it had been his dream to join since he was a child. His only hope is to track down the world renowned artificer, Theasin Venrover who has been potentially working on a cure for this plague…. unfortunately, Theasin is also just an awful person and there’s no guarantee he’d help even if Volke could find him.
So. Y’know. It’s kind of a lot.
It’s not all terrible, news, though! Theasin’s son, Adelgis has opted to come along and help Volke find his Dad. Also, the Wendigo Arcanist, Fain, has become a loyal friend to Volke and is along for the ride as his Wendigo magic makes him immune to the plague. (I actually feel like he would have insisted on coming even if he wasn’t immune. He’s fast becoming one of my favorite characters.) Plus, Volke has an entire ship of new allies in the crew of the Sun Chaser! Karna, a Doppelganger Arcanist who Volke befriended in the prior book manages to get him to agree to step on board this mighty air-ship and pursue Theasin that way. (Well. Maybe allies is a strong word to start out with. Most of the crew actively avoids him at first and one does threaten him with a knife to his throat like… day one?)
In this book we also get to see flashbacks of the life and times of Zelfree as presented to Volke in dream form courtesy of Adelgis’s particular brand of magic. These flashbacks are an interesting insight into a character who is mostly absent from this book otherwise, but plays a pivotal role in the series generally. They answer a bunch of questions I had after reading book two so if you liked Dread Pirate Arcanist, these sections are one hundred percent for you.
The Sun Chaser lands in the desert city of New Norra and suddenly there are a few more possible options that might lead to plague cures… but will our heroes be able to take advantage of even one of them? With a ticking clock on everyone’s mind as the plague starts eroding Volke’s sense of self and sanity…. well. It’s a tense situation. You’re going to need to read this entry if you want to see how, or if, everything is resolved.
My Take
If you’ve seen my prior Spotlights for this series, you’ll know I’m a fan of the Frith Chronicles. This entry is more quality storytelling and in an entirely unexpected way – we’re taken from most of the characters we’ve grown to enjoy over the prior three books and the dynamic they bring to Volke’s life; Zaxis as a friendly rival, Atty as a primary love interest, Zelfree as the hard but fair taskmaster. We’re given a cast of new characters to learn about and I have to say, I hope many of them stay on as regular cast members going forward.
One big comment, though… I get that Volke has a crush on Atty. This is very well established. He’s gazed at her from afar ever since he was a child. But honestly? I’m on Team Karna. The dynamic she has with Volke is just so much more interesting. There’s the obvious attraction she has for him but the fact that they literally learn and grow together and help one another contextualize their past experiences just makes for such a strong bond. They’re learning about one another through spending time together in both tense and mundane situations and not only that, but putting their lives on the line to help one another out throughout this entire book. Compare this to the interactions Volke has had with Atty in the prior books and I have to say, one seems like a very real relationship where the other seems like the ideal of a relationship is the point. I dunno. For me? Volkarna forever.
Anyway! Roamnce stuff aside, we get to meet some amazing new eldrin and mythical creatures, too. The plague becomes just this all encompassing threat and, as I’ve said before about the narrator for the Audible versions, Brian Wiggins, he makes every interaction with these corrupted beasts literally spine tingling! The voices and laughter he uses to represent them are just crazy-good.
All in all, this was a twisting and turning adventure that answers a lot of the questions posed by prior entries and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was about a year ago that I first discovered this series and it’s been a struggle to not just burn through them all. I really do hope you give these books a shot! As we’re coming into the holiday season proper, if you have anyone who likes Pokemon, Digimon, Monster Hunter, pirates, stories about magical, fantastical worlds or creatures, who has an interest in mythical beasts in general or even cryptids? This series would be an amazing gift.
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