Published By: Kitsune
Pages: 436
Released On: 01/03/2022
He will need courage, resilience, and a bit of magic – to survive fatherhood.
Artist Matthew Sugiyama finally has a location to start his search for his birth family, but no one prepared him for the turbulence of a scowling, unhappy child. Not only is the depot far away, his fledgling parenting skills are not cutting it…and everyone has plenty of advice to offer on fatherhood. Before Matthew can find his bearings, Akiko disappears.
In a blink, Matthew’s priorities change. Time is running out and when old friends and enemies arrive in the depot, the situation leaves Matthew scrambling. He needs a plan – and he needs help – but who can he trust?
*****
Thanks to Jami for the gifted copy of this title in return for an honest review.
I adored the first book in the series – Oil and Dust – and was over the moon when I saw there was to be a sequel, and when I was given the chance to read it.
If I’m splitting hairs, whilst I thoroughly enjoyed this, I did slightly prefer the first book. That’s not to say anything negative about this sequel, it’s just the first one was more about world and character building which is something I really enjoy about a fantasy book, whereas this is more of an extension of what was built in the first.
What I particularly liked were the developments between Matthew and Akiko as we see their father/daughter relationship deepen. Also, there are more hints to the past, the ‘before’, which gives you a greater perspective to what is happening in the now.
To me, this one has a slower pace, a calmer pace, more character focused than plot driven, well, it has for the majority of it; you’ll know when you’ve reached the point as it all starts to kick off.
I’m already counting down the days to the third book’s release next year.
Books By Your Bedside 