Series Info/Source: This is the second (and final) book in The Beast Player series. I borrowed this on ebook from my library.

Thoughts: I enjoyed this but it was very different from The Beast Player and completely not what I was expecting. It is well done but a lot more time is spent on politics and war and those aren't my favorite types of stories.

This book takes place ten years after the last book ended. Elin is married with a son and lives a mostly peaceful life. Then she is called to investigate a mysterious illness that's stricken the Toda and accidentally uncovers a very serious plot. With war on the horizon will the Royal Beasts finally be called on to fight the Toda, the very thing that was prohibited by ancient law?

As mentioned above, I wasn't keen on how much time was spent on the politics here or on the long discussions about war strategy. I ended up skimming a lot of these just because I didn't find them all that interesting. This book is long and it feels long.

However, I did like the parts where Elin is trying to figure what is happening to the Toda and the parts where she is training the Royal Beasts. I also really enjoyed the parts where Elin was together with her family trying to work through these issues Elin's son, Jesse, is a wonderful addition to the series and I really loved him a lot.

While the previous book, The Beast Player, was very clearly a middle grade read...this book is more confusing. Jesse is a middle grade aged character, but the story focuses more on political strategy and war and complex politics and magic and this makes the book feel more like an adult read. I don't remember anything in here that would make this explicitly adult; relations between adults are implied but not described and the war scenes are not overly gory. However, the plot just feels more adult in theme.

The ending was well done but very sad. This did not leave me feeling uplifted, although there is a sort of "many years later" part that helps the reader to find a bit of peace after the tumultuous ending. The whole thing is very well done. I like the world building, the characters, and the overall story.

My Summary (4/5): Overall I ended up really liking this. The world building continues to be well done and the characters (and Royal Beasts) are engaging and fun to read about. There was a bit too much time spent on politics and war planning for my liking, but that is a personal preference. This is very well written but very different in tone from the first book. I would recommend it to those who enjoy historical fantasies about war and forbidden magic. ( )

Even as a continuation from The Beast Player this book still assumed a sedate pace to get to the meat of the story. Even though it progresses slowly that doesn't mean important events aren't happening or that the writing isn't as beautiful as the first book. Even though it's now a return to a world I'm familiar with rather than newly discovering Nahoko Uehashi gives plenty of new tidbits of information about the world she's built. There was a jarring transition in the book - after Elin takes a dangerous and unexpected bath in the river she still wishes to journey to the mountains of Afon Noah but in the next chapter it seems like a snap decision outside of the book was made that they wouldn't be going.

Due to events that have come to pass Elin finds herself even more enmeshed with the politics of Lyoza. During the ten years that have passed between the two books Elin now has her own family, become a teacher, and has grown even closer to the Royal Beasts - especially Leelan. I am rather surprised that the author chose such a (to me in the US anyway) basic name for the son of Elin and Ialu - all other characters have fitting names in the book. At the beginning of the book, Elin feels like the same character but as the book continues she felt harder to connect with. I didn't mind the chapters voiced by the additional characters but this story is really Elin's story in connection to the Royal Beasts and Toda. The chapters with Oli could have been left out - she really doesn't contribute much to progressing the story other than what she agrees to and that could've been told from Shunan or Seimiya's perspective.

"The life of one person is short, but there're a lot of us. If we keep recording everything we know, down to the smallest scrap of information, those records can lead others to important discoveries. At least, that's what I think. We're living on the far edge of the lives of many who came before us, people we never even knew. In the same way, others will carry on from the far edge of our lives."

The Yojeh and Aluhan have not only been unable to mend the dissension within Lyoza but it seems to have festered even further because of the choices they have made. This fact serves as a root for the story which the problems branch out in several ways I didn't see coming. The end result was expected but there were several things that I didn't expect. This book and the ending really shine a light on human relationships with animals - both the good and the bad. I can see why Elin loved the Beasts so. I really wish that Elin would've been able to reach and spend time with the Kalenta Loh - I so wanted to know more about them and the time before.

"The Royal Beasts were noble beings. In fact, maybe all creatures were. Maybe there weren't any that people had the right to use as tools."

Again I would definitely recommend The Beast Player and The Beast Warrior to readers who enjoy books about animals (and the relationships humans have with them), fantasy, and Japanese mythology. I would like to thank Henry Holt and Co. (Macmillan Children's Publishing Group) and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this beautiful book as a digital ARC - all opinions are my own. ( )