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A review by hobbes199
Alkarra Awakening by Katie Cross
4.0
This an excerpt of the full review, previously published as part of a tour, at If These Books Could Talk
With ‘The Antebellum Awakening‘, Katie Cross has flung us straight back into the action, intrigue, and all-out fantasy world that is Antebellum, the marvellously imagined setting for her Network Series. Keeping the uncomplicated structure and tone, but never skimping on plot detail, Cross has added more depth to both her world and her characters. Bianca’s grief is heartbreakingly realised, and her resulting anger even more so. Her biggest enemy this time around is herself, and her internal struggle to control her grief (which is having an alarmingly dangerous effect on her magical abilities) drives a large part of the narrative. This doesn’t mean that Bianca is the sole focus though, as her close friends are developing wonderfully, focusing on their futures as well as supporting the fight however they can.
What Cross conveys perfectly is the different feelings Bianca has for those around her; from fear and hatred of Miss Mabel, to adoration of the wonderful Mildred, the High Priestess, and the contempt which she initially treats her trainer Merrick with, before finally coming around to his way of doing things. But it’s her relationship with her friends that is the most well-realised. Whenever they are together, be it in their ‘den’ or in the grounds of their new home Chatham Castle, their conversations are filled with humour, heart and often annoyance, but they clearly have a great affection for each other and wouldn’t dream of letting any of their group down.
The world-building steps up a gear in ‘The Antebellum Awakening‘ to such an extent that, magic, witches, and (YAY) dragons (YAY again) aside, it rarely feels like a fantasy tale. Cross has put a lot of work into the other Networks that make up Antebellum, and the back-story to the politics between them all, and only on the odd occasion does it protrude into the main narrative.
As with the first book, Cross has any action scenes down to a tee. The aforementioned dragons (YAY) are superbly done – not cutesy, nor an instant, bloody death a la Drogon, but a menacing presence that could go either way.
Although one aspect of Bianca’s life is (seemingly) wrapped up at the end of ‘The Antebellum Awakening’, there’s still plenty more to come in book three which is released in September. If it’s anywhere near as good as it’s predecessors, it’ll be a corker!
With ‘The Antebellum Awakening‘, Katie Cross has flung us straight back into the action, intrigue, and all-out fantasy world that is Antebellum, the marvellously imagined setting for her Network Series. Keeping the uncomplicated structure and tone, but never skimping on plot detail, Cross has added more depth to both her world and her characters. Bianca’s grief is heartbreakingly realised, and her resulting anger even more so. Her biggest enemy this time around is herself, and her internal struggle to control her grief (which is having an alarmingly dangerous effect on her magical abilities) drives a large part of the narrative. This doesn’t mean that Bianca is the sole focus though, as her close friends are developing wonderfully, focusing on their futures as well as supporting the fight however they can.
What Cross conveys perfectly is the different feelings Bianca has for those around her; from fear and hatred of Miss Mabel, to adoration of the wonderful Mildred, the High Priestess, and the contempt which she initially treats her trainer Merrick with, before finally coming around to his way of doing things. But it’s her relationship with her friends that is the most well-realised. Whenever they are together, be it in their ‘den’ or in the grounds of their new home Chatham Castle, their conversations are filled with humour, heart and often annoyance, but they clearly have a great affection for each other and wouldn’t dream of letting any of their group down.
The world-building steps up a gear in ‘The Antebellum Awakening‘ to such an extent that, magic, witches, and (YAY) dragons (YAY again) aside, it rarely feels like a fantasy tale. Cross has put a lot of work into the other Networks that make up Antebellum, and the back-story to the politics between them all, and only on the odd occasion does it protrude into the main narrative.
As with the first book, Cross has any action scenes down to a tee. The aforementioned dragons (YAY) are superbly done – not cutesy, nor an instant, bloody death a la Drogon, but a menacing presence that could go either way.
Although one aspect of Bianca’s life is (seemingly) wrapped up at the end of ‘The Antebellum Awakening’, there’s still plenty more to come in book three which is released in September. If it’s anywhere near as good as it’s predecessors, it’ll be a corker!