fiainros reviewed The Children of Wrath by Mickey Zucker Reichert
Review of 'The Children of Wrath' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
It is with some sadness that I start the final Renshai book to be written by Mickey Zucker Reichert. I started reading Ms. Reichert's work with The Last of the Renshai. I followed all the releases of The Last of the Renshai Trilogy and The Renshai Chronicles with much interest.
I pre-ordered The Children of Wrath at its release. However, many things were going on in my life and the release was long enough away from the previous book that I preferred to re-read the preceding two books in The Chronicles and possible the whole Renshai Trilogy. Each of those 5 books are over 500 pages long, and with the business of my life, I was unable to re-read 1000-2500+ pages of book just to read one more. Thus, I delayed the reading of The Children of Wrath. I do hope to re-read all those books in the future, all …
It is with some sadness that I start the final Renshai book to be written by Mickey Zucker Reichert. I started reading Ms. Reichert's work with The Last of the Renshai. I followed all the releases of The Last of the Renshai Trilogy and The Renshai Chronicles with much interest.
I pre-ordered The Children of Wrath at its release. However, many things were going on in my life and the release was long enough away from the previous book that I preferred to re-read the preceding two books in The Chronicles and possible the whole Renshai Trilogy. Each of those 5 books are over 500 pages long, and with the business of my life, I was unable to re-read 1000-2500+ pages of book just to read one more. Thus, I delayed the reading of The Children of Wrath. I do hope to re-read all those books in the future, all the Renshai books in order.
When I first started The Children of Wrath, I decided to read it and hope I remembered all the characters correctly. Ms. Zucker does a wonderful job in helping the reader remember characters and storyline across a couple years or more (between readings). I find I feel quite comfortable with these characters. As a year has passed in the events of the previous book and this one, the time distance in real life is not as affecting. In fact, if I had read all the books together, I might have felt a little stilted with the time lapse.
This next paragraph reveals details that give away endings in previous books:
This book is told mostly from the angle of the character of Tae Kahn, father to one of Kevral's twin boys, loser of Kevral's hand in marriage, and new prince to the throne of the Eastern lands. There are some character flips to Ra-khir and others to be sure the reader has all the information, even when Tae is not present. The plot of this book follows 8 travelers trials through several worlds to find all the shards of the pica stone. The elves have determined that with the pica stone whole, the sterility spell cast on humans may be reversed.
The ending is what you would expect, knowing up front that Ms. Reichert has no intentions of writing further Renshai novels. Most things are wrapped up neatly, which is nice. There's no hanging plots, leaving you wanting another book. Normally, I don't find this a pro, but when I know this is the last book, it's good to not be waiting for more. However, the way the story ends, the reader knows more will happen in the lives of the characters. This lets our imaginations fill in the rest if we so choose.
Ms. Reichert writes her adventurous stories with her usual flair and captivating story-telling. The details are easy to imagine, as if you're watching the story, not reading it. The characters are enjoyable, but a little flat. Definitely reading the previous novels is necessary to enjoy the characters as they are presented.
I recommend this book to fantasy readers, although the previous 5 Renshai books should be read first to have a history and familiarity with the characters. I do not think this book could stand alone without the previous books.
