The Wildcat of Braeton | Book Review

His term of service to Lord Rishdah now complete, Aiden returns to his home in Braeton. As he travels he hears rumors that trouble plagues Braeton. Clan Canich is being attacked from within. He arrives, determined to save his father, his brothers, and his Clan from the treachery of one man.

A year has passed since the Calorins were driven from Aredor and Corin is struggling to rebuild his country. Despite the peace, a fear haunts him that the Calorins aren’t far away. The Hawk Flight takes to the forest again to defend the borders against a possible attack from the neighboring country of Durna and its Calorin ally. 

As Aiden and Corin struggle to adapt to their new lives they know one thing for certain - war is coming to the North!

My Review
I personally liked this better than Book 1 in the series. It still took me a few chapters to get into it, but I loved reconnecting with the characters from Rise of Aredor. Just like Aredor, this book is filled with battles and oppressors. Claire does a good job depicting battle scenes (for my preference) -- not too much gore but just enough details for you to understand what's going on and feel the heat and excitement.

For about the first half, I had a hard time keeping characters straight because there were so many -- and a couple of the characters from Aredor had name or position changes. Also, several of the characters were similar in character and speech (not enough distinguishing features), so I had to stop and think, "Now which one is this?"

At the same time, there were a few characters that took their shape nicely and were stand-alone. (Martin. Tam.) Also, relationships were progressing and, as the story continued, I found myself enjoying the balance of battles and character plots. There is more romance in this book, but it is not heavily emotional (e.g. if there is a kiss, it is more stated "he leaned and kissed her" rather than focusing on their emotions of how this kiss affected them).

Warriors and children! Ah! I thoroughly enjoyed these parts of the story. Especially towards the end between a specific warrior and child. But I shan't divulge names.

The last battle ... wow. Talk about a swirl of events and emotions! Half of me was like, "Yay, this is so realistic!" and the other half was, "But... but... _________ can't die!!!!" Well done.

Again, things related to religion, death, and heaven were a bit strange to me. I won't rehash what I wrote in my review of Aredore, but many similar things were in this book.

Overall, this was a very interesting two-book series and I enjoyed them.

*I received this book from the author in exchange of my honest review*

Purchase your own copy here. Purchase The Rise of Aredor here.