Wings of Wrath (The Magister Trilogy, #2)

Wings of Wrath starts off a very little while after the end of Feast of Souls. By now, the story is mostly plot-driven as almost everyone´s business has been overtaken by the Souleater menace:  Kamala still needing to hide from the magisters, as well as Siderea´s continuing storyline are basically the only concessions done to character initiative, and even that is dubious, as for the most part Kamala´s hiding is irrelevant and never really comes to the fore. (Her hiding from Rhys is another issue entirely, and also felt a bit plot-forced) 

Its not that I have anything against plot-driven stories (I would have scarce Fantasy to read, if that were the case), but that, for the most part, FoS had me excited about following Kamala´s story and character in a more profound way than it was later delivered. My own fault for perhaps having preconceived expectations, granted, but it just seems like I can´t let go.

The editing was a bit bad too (I´ve read comments of people saying it was horrid on Goodreads). For me it was not that terrible, or too jarring, but I don´t happen to be too uptight about these things. The only instance that really stuck to my mind was where Mrs. Friedman included two synonyms, one next to the other, as if she could not quite decide which fit the better. I don't recall the exact quote, but its near the ending of the book. 

One other thing I disliked was that, at times, I could not help but feel that Mrs. Friedman sort of made things up as she went. What with the random chapters featuring previously unknown characters reminiscing about things long past. Not that they were  boring, mind you, or badly written in general, but they were quite off-putting all the same. Ok, ok, there are not that many of them (Maybe two or three, really) but still. Throwing us into the middle of a whole chapter consisting only of flashbacks with a character we don´t know and we don´t quite grow to care about ... Eh, it just felt a bit cheap.  

All that aside, the book is good. All those things I've mentioned are but little flaws, and some things I would have liked done different, but basically if you liked the first book, you will like this. The prose is always pleasant to read, the characterization of the main cast is as good as it was on the first installment(Gwynofar had me floored, and Salvator was rather interesting), and, above all, the book entertains.

Friedman mostly never quite goes the way you expect, and I can assure you'll stand open-mouthed at least once during your reading. At least I was.