Wizards and Warriors, Part II

In my review of The Warrior Heir, I said that a sequel was due out soon and that I was looking forward to reading it. Well, the sequel is out now, and it's just as good a read as the first.

Very briefly:

Seph knows he's a wizard, but he doesn't know much else. He knows the story he's been told about his parents is false, but he doesn't know why he's been fed a pack of lies or what, if anything, is the truth about them. More important for the story, however, is that he knows that he has power, but he doesn't know how to control it. He's been kicked out of multiple schools because his uncontrollable bursts of power have created some very uncomfortable and unfortunate situations. But the worst situation of all is what happens one night when he goes to a nightclub to party with some friends and meets Alicia (who we met in the first book). When she spikes his drink, Seph loses any semblance of control. Several people die as a result, and Seph's guardians (a law firm) have to get him out of town fast. He is sent to the Havens, a small school in a remote part of Maine. Unknown to him (but is it unknown to the people who sent him there?), the school is run by a wizard who has set the school up specifically to collect as many wizard around him as possible. His goal isn't to train them, it's to link to and control them. When Seph resists, he is mentally and physically tortured. After months of this, he is finally able to get a call for help out. A significant character from the The Warrior Heir arrives to rescue him, but he's merely jumping from the frying pan into the fire. Many wizards are angry about the changes made at Raven's Ghyll, and they aren't going to accept them without a fight. Little does Seph know how central a role he's playing in that fight.

Jack, Ellen, Linda, Hastings, Niko, and several others from the first book appear in this one as well (though it takes a while). But we also meet several other new characters, notably Seph, Maddie (who has a fascinating power we haven't seen before), Jason, and Gregory Leicester (Jessamine Longbranch and Geoffrey Wylie don't hold a candle to this guy).

Cinda Chima's web site has a bio, a list of books she's read over the past few years (fun to browse), and pages on the two books in this series that include lists of characters, information about places in the books, and a FAQ. Dragon's Heir, the third book in the series, is scheduled to be published in the spring of 2008.