Of Blood and Bone by Nora Roberts
Series: Chronicles of The One #2
Rating: ★★★★☆
They look like an everyday family living an ordinary life. But beyond the edges of this peaceful farm, unimaginable forces of light and dark have been unleashed.
Fallon Swift, approaching her thirteenth birthday, barely knows the world that existed before—the city where her parents lived, now in ruins and reclaimed by nature since the Doom sickened and killed billions. Traveling anywhere is a danger, as vicious gangs of Raiders and fanatics called Purity Warriors search for their next victim. Those like Fallon, in possession of gifts, are hunted—and the time is coming when her true nature, her identity as The One, can no longer be hidden.
In a mysterious shelter in the forest, her training is about to begin under the guidance of Mallick, whose skills have been honed over centuries. She will learn the old ways of healing; study and spar; encounter faeries and elves and shifters; and find powers within herself she never imagined. And when the time is right, she will take up the sword, and fight. For until she grows into the woman she was born to be, the world outside will never be whole again.
I really enjoy this series. It’s so fresh, while at the same time containing everything I love about Nora Roberts. It’s rejuvenated my love of NR, to be honest. I can’t wait for the next, and final, book in the series.
I think this series is going to test me with it’s cross-genre categorization. The first book was pretty clearly Urban Fantasy and Post-Apocalyptic with a good deal of Romance thrown in. Book 2, Of Blood and Bone, is more Young Adult, Post-Apocalyptic, Urban Fantasy. This book also follows Fantasy’s “hero’s journey” pretty thoroughly.
Fallon Swift, the protagonist, born of Max Fallon and Lana Bingham from Year One, is just a teenager during this book. It takes place, primarily, from ages thirteen to seventeen. Throughout this time we get to see Fallon learn, grown, and come to terms with her “destiny.”
“Destiny” (in quotations) because it’s also her choice. Always her choice. And like most things in life there are, serious, consequences for those choices. Both for and against. As I’m sure we’ve all learned, despite best intentions sometimes we just have to do something we’re not really wanting to do. Fallon starts this way. I mean, honestly, it’s pretty tough knowing from the time you’re little that you’re the CHOSEN ONE. C’mon. That’s rough.
I like the rebellion and uncertainty that Fallon shows as she’s growing into who she is. Her reliance on the foundation that her parents have given her to build herself and her values is perfect. And I love seeing her grow into the person capable of being the Chosen One.
If I’m being honest there’s not a ton of action in this book. There are a handful of events that happen that really move the world along, but most of the story is laser-focused on Fallon, her quests, journey, growth, and learning. Personally, I appreciate and enjoy that. But if you’re not expecting it, and expecting something closer to NR’s “normal” writing, it might be a bit harder to swallow.
Even as this book delves further into the post-apocalyptic world that everyone is currently living, it also becomes more of a fantasy world as well. There are deeper and further explorations of the beings and peoples that now inhabit this earth, and I can’t wait to see that expand even further.
Overall, I read this book over a pleasant couple of days and enjoyed every moment. I think I said it for Year One, but this series has rejuvenated my love of Nora Roberts. She’s truly stepping outside of her “norm” and delivering everything I’ve ever enjoyed about her writing in a new and unique way.
I can’t wait to see how this ends in The Rise of Magicks, due November 2019.
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