Francesca Haig
The Map of Bones (The Fire Sermon, Book 2)
HarperCollins Voyager (AU: 1st April 2016; UK: 7th April 2016); Simon & Schuster Gallery (US & CA: 6th December 2016)
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CONTENT WARNING: The world is very ableist: the whole concept of Alphas and Omegas, and how Omegas are treated. Also, if you’re pregnant, you may want to skip Chapter 17.
The problem with reading a sequel more than a year after its predecessor is that my memory sucks. OK, my memory sucks anyway – a month after reading a book, I may have already forgotten character names. (And reviewing The Map of Bones a month after I read it, my recall is failing.) But I digress.
For the first 100 pages of The Map of Bones, I didn’t know where the characters were going and why. And when they formed some kind of army and invaded a town, I didn’t understand that, either.
But the best part of the novel is when Cass and Piper find the Maze of Bones, and journey underground. It’s dangerous, creepy, and claustrophobic, and what they find in there – and how they struggle to exit – are jaw-dropping scenes of brilliance. These books so far are at their best when they fall on the science part of the spec-fic spectrum. (The epic/high fantasy journeying doesn’t work for me.)
Even when confused about the story, one thing is always certain: Zoe is awesome. Unfortunately, the novel’s from Cass’s point of view, but Zoe is still the best. We learn more about her backstory here. And she goes out on a mission that could change the lives of the Omegas forever…
Tez Says 