The Heart of Dread series is very off beat to begin with because it’s a post apocalyptic fantasy series. That is there are two worlds linked by magic, Earth and Vallonis. Vallonis has magic and elves and dragon riders—er drakkonryders. Earth is in an ice age with humanity barely surviving under the military rule. While some people used to go back and forth they or their decedents have been trapped Earthside and have been hunted down for their mysterious powers.
Nat is one of these people, the last drakkonryder single-handedly trying to protect the few portals from Earth to Vallonis and help the people with Vallonis blood escape back into the haven of their home world. In the first book, Frozen, ex-military man turned outlaw good guy Wes helped Nat get to Vallonis and learn who she really was. Despite some major romance between the two Wes left Nat to try to find his sister, a ″Marked″ girl who was stolen from her family by the military like so many others.
Much of this book is Wes trying to rescue his sister from the clutches of the military overlords. It’s been nine years though and even if she is alive (and he’s given reason to believe she is) she could be very different. But what if it’s not the military who kidnapped her?
This books drags a little, which serves to build more of the world setting, which doesn’t quite mesh well. After all this is an outright fantasy book (dragons and invisible powers, swordspeople and magic and castles in the air) mooshed into a post apoc story (cruel military rulers, citizen revolt, dying planet without enough food, poor people dying left and right, a cult that sacrifices citizens for the amusement of the upper class). The plot seems about as hesitant as the characters. Wes doesn’t want his love for Nat keep her from her destiny and Nat feels that being born on Earth instead of Vallonis puts her at a huge disadvantage. Not to mention she’s been putting her life on the line for a while now and still isn’t really a part of the Vallonis people, even if she is welcome to live there and provided for.
But what really sealed my meh feeling for it was the cliffhanger ending. This book almost came to a whole finish of its own, then it changes its mind and opts for a cliffhanger, completely negating the feeling of completion it finally reaches. Clearly this is a trilogy. And I enjoyed the ″different″ feel to the first book. But this one, just left me less interested.
Contains: Violence, implied torture