The Second Book of Nampeshiweisit continues the story of young Anequs, her dragon Kasaqua, and her friends. There is a pattern to book series about dark academia, wizarding academies, and dragon rider schools, generally they have one book per academic year following the main characters through their education, so when the description of this book only mentioned the summer after Anequs' first year, I was a tad concerned; was it just going to be a duology or something? The book does start with the summer and a visit with her community but we do, in fact, return to the school for a second year. Though, this isn't exactly a full second year so we might not be following the one per year norm. This story does break a few norms so I am not exactly surprised. Anyone that enjoyed the first book, its world building, characters, and narration style, will likely find something in this book. And, those that thought they wanted more action, will be granted their desire of a titular "Rising Storm." The story dives deeper into the issues of discrimination and assimilation though it does appear through a slightly narrow lens of the main character, where anti-Indigenous sentiment is highlighted, anti-black sentiment is noticed, but antisemitism is glossed over. The overall feel to the book from the beginning is that something is brewing and by the end of the book, it starts to bubble over. I'm looking forward to the next book in the series to see where this goes. (3.5/5)
I received access to this eARC thru NetGalley (for which I want to thank NetGalley and the publisher, Del Rey, Random House Worlds, Inklore) for an honest review. The opinion expressed here is my own.