Todd Fahnestock

Strangely bundled into an Elves collection, being the 2nd part of a series it's a bit of jump into the deep end, and you have to assume quite a bit has been explained previously. It does all sort of make sense, but one best not read as a standalone. I had though that as part of a shared world setting it would work better without the prior books, but it didn't. I'm not sure I'm that bothered to seek them out though.

Some interesting characters, but the world-building is unbalanced without much thought into whether it would be cohesive. Sometime in the past humans fought a war with Giants, but rather than just being physically bigger they were also substantially more powerful on a gods/dragons level. Humans (and allies) managed to win by weight of numbers and the aid of a few who didn't want to see them wiped out. Now it appears that the Giants are starting to reappear. Lorelle is part of a team of friends trying to run a kingdom after the mysterious disappearance of the prior ruler they'd just aided onto the throne (prior book I think). We don't get to see the actual kingdom running details, but instead the focus is on her attempts to find the new Queen - she'd been portalled away by a stranger who'd impersonated one of her friends' brothers. They have the portal but need to find the key. Along the way Lorelle meets a Nox (drow/dark elf) who tries to explain to her much of own history she'd been ignorant of, and some of her powers that she'd been suppressing. Unsurprisingly there are consequences.

Quite fun, fat paced, the characters work well together even if they're a little bit stereotyped and don't grow.… (meer)