Last of the Wilds - Trudi Canavan

Confused.  That is the only word that can possibly describe how I felt reading the first hundred-odd pages of Last of the Wilds.  Not through fault of the book though.  This is the second book in the Age of the Five series.  Emphasis on second.  It's pretty clear from this blog that I didn't read the first part this year.  What's not clear is that I'm not even sure whether it was 2011 I read it or 2010...

So my memory of what happened previously was pretty sketchy.  I slowly pieced together in my mind the key points of what had happened, helped by the fact that major events were recollected by characters as part of the storyline.  By a third of the way through the book I was well and truly immersed in the story and didn't feel my head hurting every time an event got mentioned or the focus switched to a different character.

Last of the Wilds is based in the world of the Circlians and the Pentadrians, two religions who went to war because both wanted to prove the others were wrong.  Both groups of people feature in their own plotlines and developments as do the Siyee, a race that can fly, and the Elai, who live in and under the water.  Add to that a few Dreamweavers, a cult considered to be heathens by both religious groups, and you have an idea of all the information I had to pull from the back of my memory.

The characters development is key in this book.  The discoveries that they make about themselves and the people they love or once loved are the defining moments far more than any event could be.  And as character development is my big thing you can probably guess that I loved it.

I also loved how everything was turned on its head - several times.  In Priestess of the White, right and wrong are as clear as.. well black and white.  But here the lines get a bit more smudged.  Seeing the world from the point of view of all the different groups gives an entirely different perspective, and I spent a good deal of time reading it trying to work out whose side I would be on.

I would definitely recommend this to any fantasy lovers, particularly if they enjoy any of Trudi Canavan's other books.  Of course I'd recommend reading Priestess of the White first though!  Strangely I seem to recall that I didn't think all that much of the first book when I read it.  It was soon after I had finished the Black Magician trilogy, and I kept drawing connections with that.  But Last of the Wilds won me over when I let myself fall into its world and enjoy looking around.

Now I just need to buy the third book... and try to read it a little sooner!