Kindred and Wings (Shifted World #2) by Philippa Ballantine

Second in the Shifted World series
340p.
Published: Pyr
Available: Aug, 6, 13
Source: eARC from publicist

On the back of the dragon Wahirangi, Finn the Fox flees the world he has known. As he sets out to find the brother he never knew of, he still holds in his heart the memory of the Hunter. He has denied his love for her, but he cannot deny it forever. 

In the halls of the Last Believers, Talyn begins to uncover her own mysteries, but her lust for the death of the Caisah is still strong and clouds her vision. She must choose her path, as the Seer of her people or as the assassin of the overlord. 

Meanwhile, Byre, Talyn's brother, must venture into the fiery world of the Kindred, to rebuild the pact that his ancestors made. He will risk everything he is as he forms a new pact that will change his people forever. 

Dragons and myths will be reborn, as the Hunter and her Fox face each other once more.

My thoughts:
I reviewed Hunter and Fox and thought it would be a great introduction to those that want to read fantasy, but just haven't tried one yet. This book is the sequel but it is more heavily into the fantasy world than the first. I think that first book leads you easily into this one. However, just don't take too long to read this one or I would suggest rereading the first before diving into the second installment.

In this book we continue where we left off in the first book. We find ourselves less concerned with the characters than the world. The characters are still important, but do take a back seat to the shifting world and what happened before. It is all about taking that world that was established in the first book and making a puzzle out of it. We find that it was already a puzzle, but we weren't completely aware of that fact until now. The mystery of why things happened to the people of this world isn't as easily known as we first thought. We even find that those we deemed evil outright have a softer side. Nothing is straight forward and the more knowledge we gather a much fuller picture emerges. So, it is the unraveling of the world we knew as well as the build up of that world. With all the details the author gives, I commend her vast imagination of a world that you are convinced could exist. There is enough detail to make it work.

I give this book 4 stars. It is much more rooted in the fantasy type reads out there than the first. I enjoyed this installment and really liked the way this book pulls at the strings of our characters prejudices and fills them with correct knowledge. I recommend it to those that enjoy fantasy.