Review: Bloods of a Withering Kingdom by Corey Ratliff

Blurb:

Bör Mesari burns. Velensmir is on the brink of war with Grayhorn. The dwarves return to the light. The druidic Gods are on the move.

And the Ashen Empire has risen.

Aric and Eldras reunite to find themselves thrust under the shadow of prophecy and a choice that will change the world forever. One path will see them in someone else's shackles, while the other is painted in secrets and lies.

Moro and Trenara prepare to part ways as he discovers the mistake he made that will bathe the lands in blood. His powers grow and he begins to hear a voice bound to his fate and soul.

In the south, Donalis discovers the dark plans of the High King to rewrite the map of Verilia as three cities collide. Now, he must make the choice to remain loyal to his king, or hold onto his morals.

Death will meet Life as unforeseen enemies are revealed. Old foes reemerge. Alliances form in the most unlikely. When the rise of the Shadow bond threatens every faction, can heroes prevail where all else have failed before?

Review:

Got this book a few days ago as a digital ARC copy in the mail, and before that was forewarned by someone who has read the book that I would want to chase Ratliff with a pitchfork after I read the emotional roller coaster that is called “The Bloods of a Withering Kingdom”. Read the book, finished it, set it down, and looked up where to get a pitchfork. That is mentioned humorously, as I quite enjoyed the novel, but the feeling of wanting to scream out my frustration was there. 

If you haven’t read the first novel, “Whispers of a World Breaker”, I would recommend reading that first. If you want to immediately jump off the deep end into this book, here is a quick, non spoilery synopsis for the previous book:

“Two friends, Aric and Moro, get attacked by orcs while guarding a dragon birthing an egg. After the orcs attack, Aric gets separated  from Moro, who gets kidnapped by the orcs and learns their ways. Aric meanwhile has a dragon hatch for him. Shenanigans ensue, and at the end of the book the two friends want to murder each other.”

Now that that is out of the way, “The Bloods of a Withering Kingdom” is a novel that looks at a roller coaster, says: “I want to be that” and then proceeds to drag you through the wringer. I say this because I spent about 50% of the book curled up on a beanbag wondering what would happen to the intrepid heroes of this tale. Turns out, a lot. By the end of it, I wanted to hug Aric and Moro for the suffering they went through.

Does that mean I disliked the book? Not at all, I’d recommend it and “Whispers of a World Breaker” to friends and family if they want to read a book with dragons in it or they’ve read the Inheritance Cycle or even both. 

What did I like about the book? Well, a lot of things.

First of all, continued story development. If you’ve read the previous book, you know that Aric and Moro had some personal growth, as well as the other people. This book takes what they were at the end of the “Whispers of a World Breaker”, and expands that immensely. 

Aric slowly becomes more of a Dragon Rider, learning the tricks of the trade while his family is doing whatever families do while he’s out and about. Moro, having gained new powers throughout book one, learns how to use and control it. And the other people are also having their character growths, including Trenara and Donalis.

And then the plot. The plot was definitely something. Not only was it a roller coaster, but it also sent me hiding in the corner of the basement from the suffering I vicariously felt from the characters reading. Enjoyed the pacing a lot. Didn’t feel like anything was added extra or was removed.

Prose went just about as expected and felt great to read through.

What did I not like?

Not much, at least logically, but emotionally? My emotions would like to file a petition for less hurt feelings. Was not expecting to have my emotions punched this many times. That’s it. Nothing else really felt out of place.

Thank you for reading to the end of this review, if you have reached the end of it. If this isn’t your cup of tea, I’d recommend checking out other reviews from people on this site for other genres and other opinions. Hopefully we’ve helped you along the way finding your next read.

Read Jonathan’s review of Whispers of a World Breaker: Elmerïan Book 1 (Elmerïan Chronicles)

Read Ariana’s review of Bloods of a Withering Kingdom: Elmerïan Book 2 (Elmerïan Chronicles)