Andre Norton, Mercedes Lackey: Elvenblood

This is the sequel to The Elvenbane that I read a couple weeks ago and reviewed here. Overall, I was satisfied with the second book in The Halfblood Chronicles and Mercedes Lackey is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors.

This book picks up where Shana left off - trying to rebuild the wizards' society after the war. Two more characters are introduced to give the reader a view of the Elven Lord society. They also turn out to be love interests for two of the main characters we met in the previous book. That was a little too convenient for me, but I won't complain too much because I can appreciate a good love subplot. Shana and her new friends meet a whole new race of people and get caught up in their politics. It makes for some interesting twists and a good story.

I do have a complaint, though. The ending was a total cop out. I'm hoping that this book and the last book were originally one book and they split them up to make a trilogy. I'm hoping that the loose ends will be tied up at the beginning of Elvenborn and that the authors didn't really just take the easy way out. The last chapter covers a huge battle that the plot has been building too the whole book, but only from one character's point of view and only in a couple of pages. I felt totally gipped! I'm the type of reader that needs a really satisfying ending and this was far from it. So, I'm starting on the third and last book of the series with my fingers crossed.

Still, the book was really entertaining and I still really like the characters. I'm going to hold off on the recommendation until I finish the last book.