The second book finds us back on the Tide Child with Lucky Meas and Joron Twiner and their whole crew dedicated to the cause of peace within the Hundred Isles. Our heroes (cause that's what they are) find a ship floundering and being the heroes they stop to assist. To their horror, they find a hold full of half-dead people and gullaime in the hold of the ship. This and the discovery that Safe Harbor, a free island intermixing peoples from both The Hundred Isles and the Gaunt Islands has been destroyed and the people living there taken captive, sets our daring crew off on a mission to discover just what Meas's mother has planned for these poor souls. The answer is far more horrific than anyone could have possibly imagined.
Joron Twiner and Gullaime have been officially established as two of my favorite characters of all time after finishing this book. Joron's character growth has been one of the many reasons I've enjoyed this series so much. Watching him go from an alcoholic with a death wish to a respected Deck Keeper has been inspirational. In this book, we discover that Gullaime harbors a secret that could literally destroy the world and I've enjoyed watching its relationship with Joron blossom because of this as well. They are a pair of unlikely heroes.
The second book also builds on the world and lore, mythology as well without being I guess overbearing. We discover little bits and pieces of the puzzle that make up what the Caller is and even Meas's role in that lore/mythology as well as the story unfolds. It's just not all thrown at us at once. And I enjoy that. There is actually a lot going on in this book, sure there is the big bad, Meas's mom and the others in power who want to continue the wars, as well as the evolving of the relationships between the characters and the development of the characters as individuals.
I'm not sure if I mentioned this in the review of the first book but even if I did I think it bears repeating that I almost didn't buy the first one. Every time I walked into Barnes and Noble I'd pick it up, read the back, and put it down. Wash, rinse, repeat for months. It was finally my husband who added it to my stack because he said I obviously wanted to read it. I'm eternally grateful he did. The Tide Child series isn't the "perfect" fantasy series but it's damn close. Barker has created a world like none that I've read before. His character development is almost flawless. The pacing of the books (so far) has been spot on. I do not believe I could find anything wrong with these books even if I wanted to, which I don't because they have become one of my favorite things of all time. So if you've been sitting on this one I really cannot recommend it enough.
On one hand, I really can't wait to finish this series up on the other hand I've thoroughly enjoyed my time in this world so I'll be sad once I finish the last book and leave it.
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