Demon’s Call
Series: Requiem of Stone, #2
Author: Julie Boglisch
Genre: Fantasy
Description:
Alex, Rita, and Milos journey north in search of a missing mother and the answers she can provide. With danger around every corner, it will take all their skills and comraderie just to survive … Before the waters of the north tear them apart.
Review:
If you like unique, rich, and fantastic world-building with lots of mysteries to be discovered, this book is for you. I really liked Alex, who is one of those soft, sweet people, who is really optimistic and kind. He always believes the best of people, and he’s always willing to forgive and make friends again, and always willing to share what he has with whoever is in need. Something I really like about this story is that his experiences are not damaging that part of him. Alex is always kind and sweet, he is always forgiving and able to see the better side of situations, and it does not look like he is on any sort of road towards becoming a cynic.
In this story, we get to see more of the Underlands and the exotic creatures that live there. More of how the witch-magic Rita has is revealed, as well as Alex’s abilities becoming more developed, and there are some interesting hints about what other things might be. I am looking forward to seeing more of Alex and his abilities as a part-human part-singing water demon. The way he senses and can sing to water is awesome, and I want him to learn how to fly. Something like a romance seems to be developing between Rita and Alex, and I’m not saying it’s bad or anything, I’m not a romance person usually, but I just don’t get it.
There are some pretty cool and imaginative things out there, and some of the escapes in the water were downright fun, but I have to admit, some of the things could also be downright creepy – such as creatures that have to drink other beings’ life-force in order to live, though I’m not going to spoil everything.
Milos continues to struggle with his heritage and who he wants to be, and it does not look like he is coming to peace with his drastic deviation from what he has been taught he is supposed to be. I was hoping he would by now, since he’s grown to be close with Alex, but he has me a little worried with his inability to settle into an identity he can define for himself apart from “being an Alertian” – that is, a member of a family of demon-hunters. Some of the character development with the slaves/ex-slaves, Ari and Leon, and their culture and the way that their relationships to those around them changes throughout their circumstances, and informs how they speak to the others, was pretty neat. The ship and the Aqua Wraith are pretty cool.
All in all, this is a kind of fun adventure with lots of strange and varied challenges that Alex and his friends after to overcome in their search for disparate things, with Alex’s search for his mother being at the center of it all, in a neat and original world that is beautifully described and populated with many odd creatures, some of them creepy and some of them beautiful, some of them nasty and some of them good-willed, and everything in-between.
But if you’re looking for something that’s original in a thought-provoking way, I don’t think I would recommend this one.
Enthralled By Love 