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A review by faileskye
The Fifth Ward: Friendly Fire by Dale Lucas
4.0
I recommend this book to those that enjoyed the first as well as anyone that thinks a buddy cop story taking place in a swords and sorcery fantasy setting sounds as amazing as it is novel.
Since Friendly Fire is a sequel, this book has our two protagonists’ relationship fully figured out and developed, so it is not the focus this time around. What is the focus is Torval’s own life and relationship with his past, as well as that of two factions within the Fifth Ward. The plot, while certainly fantastical at its roots, is one that has happened throughout real life history and even in current days as a powerful guild goes up against the dwarf community. This setup, which is explained in the synopsis, actually kept me from the book for a year because I didn’t want to deal with that kind of thing in my escapism. This was quite honestly a mistake and you shouldn’t make the same one. The message and action are certainly poignant, but it isn’t preachy or distracting from the story of Rem and Torval being given a case and told to solve it no matter what.
So if you liked the first book, police procedurals with a spin, and a serious book with a good peppering of humor, I would go ahead and continue this series. I know I will, and I won’t wait a year this time around.
Since Friendly Fire is a sequel, this book has our two protagonists’ relationship fully figured out and developed, so it is not the focus this time around. What is the focus is Torval’s own life and relationship with his past, as well as that of two factions within the Fifth Ward. The plot, while certainly fantastical at its roots, is one that has happened throughout real life history and even in current days as a powerful guild goes up against the dwarf community. This setup, which is explained in the synopsis, actually kept me from the book for a year because I didn’t want to deal with that kind of thing in my escapism. This was quite honestly a mistake and you shouldn’t make the same one. The message and action are certainly poignant, but it isn’t preachy or distracting from the story of Rem and Torval being given a case and told to solve it no matter what.
So if you liked the first book, police procedurals with a spin, and a serious book with a good peppering of humor, I would go ahead and continue this series. I know I will, and I won’t wait a year this time around.