“From her blood came the shadowblessed, from her bone the humans, and from the fragment of her soul, the shamans were born.” #LoriMLee #BrokenWeb #Shamanborn #PageStreetPublishing

Genre: #Fantasy #YA #AsianLiterature

My rating: 4 /5 GR: 4,67 /5

This book is a great example of a good YA fantasy, without all the romance that often takes over the main story. This is a second book of a “Shamanborn” trilogy, where to find patience before the last one comes out? But this book was worth the wait, I’m extremely grateful to @PageStreetYa for an E-Arc of this book in exchange for my honest review. I've been waiting for this book since the last summer (happy tears).

Why do I like these book series so much? Well, it’s genuine. I’m honestly tired of all “bad ass” heroines and vulgarity in YA fantasy books. There is wonderful magical world, and characters, especially antagonists that remind me a bit of Grimm's fairytales, with their darkness. Magical creatures (Loved that author hasn’t simply used “dragons” but whole varieties of similar creatures, such as drakes and wyverns).

In the previous book #ForestOfSouls Sirscha Ashwyn has woken up some dark power and discovered that she’s possessing special powers. As well as got bonded with her best friend, and now her friend is dying from the uncurable rot. Sirscha and her friends are on the way to the Shaman empire to find answers, destroy evil and cure her friend. She arrives there as a hero, but would she leave as one too? What does Empire hide?

My favorite part of the second book are Sirschas dreams! I wish there was more darkness like in those dreams through the whole book, but I have a feeling that it’s still coming in the last book, hopefully next year!

As you have probably guessed it’s a story of finding yourself and your priorities, there are some difficult choices that characters have to endure. It’s also a story about friendship, old friends, and new people, about discovering your past (Difficult when you're no one from nowhere) , some truths might not be worth knowing...

I highly recommend this book. It’s just so easy to read, you just flow through the pages! And those places, creatures, characters... The only reason I didn’t rate this book with 5 stars, it slightly reminded me of the last Sabaa Tahir books, especially the Dead Forest part, and Darkness, I somehow really wanted some scenes to be darker, but that’s just my preference.

In this wonderful sequel to the Forest of Souls, Lori M. Lee once again creates a world balanced along politics and magic, of found family and finding worth.

I've been anxiously awaiting this book since I read the first one last year. This one, like the first, is an easy-to-read page-turner, with action nearly every-other chapter and beautiful character relationships. These relationships are my favorite part of the book — I love that this book nails home the found-family ideal and that our protagonist, Sirscha, has rich friendships built on mutual trust. It's also refreshing to read a book without a love interest because our kick-butt female protag is too busy saving the world.

Lee's ability to create rich lore and magic contributes to how enthralling this series is; the different types of magic and the ancient history of the continent are clues Sirscha must navigate to understand the chain of events set in motion.

My only complaint is that, at times, Lee tends to use the "I got captured/I must escape/I will work with the bad guy for now" plot devices to move the story forward. While I understand this forward movement is necessary, I wish there had been different ways to do it since this happens several times throughout the story.

Overall, a satisfying sequel in this trilogy that didn't feel like it dragged or was just filler, which is a feat in itself.

I really liked the first book of this series so I was very excited to read the second. It was just as good and I flew through it! The plot was easy to read but was full of action and adventure. I really hate books that are slow to the point but this book was nothing like that. I will be recommending it to all of my friends.

Oh, one of the books I've been waiting for. The sequel to Forest of Souls. What can I say? THIS BOOK IS EVERYTHING! I LOVE Lori's writing. She captures the true essence of a story. Amazing characters. Magic. Darkness. Stellar plot. This one truly takes you into a what feels like a new world. Lori's ability to mold, captivating characterizations is amazing. I strongly recommend this one to everyone who loved Forest of Souls. DON'T MISS OUT ON THE SEQUEL!