Friday, February 15, 2019

The Badass Nice Ladies

Fog Season: A Tale of Port Saint FreyFog Season: A Tale of Port Saint Frey by Patrice Sarath
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Bit by bit, Port Saint Frey, Guildmaster Trune, the missing Main Chance, and the Mederos sisters give up their secrets in this second book in the series--only to see new mysteries get added, and new characters enter with their own stories. What's happening with Jone? The sisters' parents? Who are the Harriers, and what's behind them? What really happened to the fleet six years ago? What is behind the Guild's attempt to destroy their family?

Also: Can they defeat their enemies? Will their past catch up with them?

The setting, the tone, the pace, and the multiplying conflicts add up to a very entertaining, layered story, and tease many to come. I'm curious about the lives of the main characters, but also Dr. Reynbolten, the lawyer, and Mrs. Francini, the cook, and Elenor Charvantes, the frenemy, and Albero and Jone and Inigho, as well as gray-area villains like Abel and Malcroft and [spoiler]. I hope all of them figure in the next novel and supply some of the answers. (There is going to be another, right? Several?)

Like the first in the series, this novel is very entertaining on its own, with a satisfying arc and genuine conclusion, but it also supplies pieces in a longer multi-story arc that promises more to come. It feels like a drawing started in the corner that expands in outward and upward, and one wonders just how big the canvas will be when it is revealed in full.

I look forward to seeing much more--without putting undue pressure on the author--though I also hope we never quite see all of it. There is charm in the slow revelation as well as the expanding mystery.

Recommended. A genuine pleasure.

View all my reviews

No comments:

Post a Comment