tamaranth | 2021/038: The Traitor's Sword -- Amanda Hemingway (Reply)

2021/038: The Traitor's Sword -- Amanda Hemingway

Children had wandered into the past and explored the dimensions of magic since the days of E. Nesbitt and Puck of Pook’s Hill, or so Annie reasoned: it was a vital part of their experience. [loc. 3037]

Second in the trilogy that began with The Greenstone Grail. As well as his trips to Eos, the city at the end of time, Nathan is now visiting a desolate medieval castle in his dreams, trying to acquire the Traitor's Sword: there, he has to contend with demons, a king with a wound that won't heal, and a very practical princess. Meanwhile, Hazel is experimenting with witchcraft (and not being very intelligent about it) and, in the daytime world of school and home, Nathan is being bullied. And poor old Detective Pobjoy is starting to realise that ongoing events in Eade -- a burglary, a kidnapping -- make no sense in the framework of the world he knows.

This did suffer somewhat from 'middle volume' syndrome, but the new setting was interesting, and more of the backstory, including some of Bartlemy's past, was shaded in. Nathan and Hazel's arcs in this volume both involve loving and losing, though they approach romance in very different ways. (Nathan is too sensible, and rather too mature, for his own good.)

Onward to the finale!