The Fires of Vengeance

Second book syndrome is always so bitter. The Rage of Dragons was an immediate favorite, and it was a pleasant surprise when I saw The Fires of Vengeance's stance amongst fantasy fans was just as good, if not better than the prior. Unfortunately for me, that was a nope.

Let me say, before I go into anything else, that the following criticism is my own and is in no way to downgrade this book, as 3 stars is not necessarily a bad rating for me. Just my own ridiculous opinion.

The first half of the book, excluding the first chapter and a few hairy details, was a great start, but by the time I got to the halfway point, I became frustrated with the Tau's narcissistic behavior that kept hammering my distress in him after each selfish decision. Having not learned everything from book one and still leading others into harms way, everyone seems to brush aside his ridiculous demeanor and follow him, which downplayed their own actions. In The Rage of Dragons, this flaw is what shaped the book, it was an obvious problem that other characters forced the protagonist to recognize, but in book two, it feels as if it's not a flaw, but magnified to overshadow other characters that made the debut shine. My favorite thing about The Fires of Vengeance was the side characters, unfortunately that's all they are and in the end, I lost connection with them.

What would have been awesome was seeing a second or third POV that would offset the arrogance and mature the development. It feels a little one sided when we're looking through one viewpoint, which is where my frustration lies. By the time the story settled in its conclusion, I've already made up my decision about a main character who's only flaw is being a pain in my ass.

The reason this hits me hard is because the excellent promise in book 1 just didn't pan over into book 2, which is a real bummer and just makes me second guess the series.