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Title: Petrodor
Series: A Trial of Blood and Steel #2
Author: Joel Shepherd
Rating: 2 of 5 Stars
Genre: SFF
Pages: 525
Format: Kindle Digital Edition


Synopsis:

Sasha is now in the city of Petrodor. Various political factions are vying for the role of leading a new army against the Serrin. The Serrin in Petrodor are playing their own game, unfortunately for them, they don't understand humanity nearly as well as they think. And the humans allied with the Serrin are split as well. Then once the Priesthood gets involved, all bets are off.

Sasha must navigate allies, enemies and some who are both at the same time.


My Thoughts:

I've given this series 2 books worth of my time. I simply didn't like this one either.

Narrowed it down to the fact that I don't like one single character. The story was intriguing, the political, religious and species aspect of things were well done and complex and the fighting was fun to read about.

But without even one character to like or root for, it wasn't worth it. So I'm dropping this. I'm kind of hesitant about trying his Cassandra Kresnov series now. Sure glad I discovered him with his Spiral Wars series and not this. ( )

This book surprised me with how much I liked it, compared to the first in the series, "Sasha". Many of the characters that Shepherd put some time into introducing appeared and played more important roles in the plot in this book. Jaryd and Sofy in particular became much more interesting people, and I was always pleased to see a chapter from one of their points of view.

I do look forward to the last book, if only because it feels like I'm only reading one book and I've finished the first two parts. The characters are engaging and Shepherd's world is too wonderful to not know what happens to it. Sadly I left my copy at home, so I'll have to wait a whole week to find out.

More at:
http://dragonldy.blogspot.com/2010/12/petrodor-by-joel-shepard.html ( )

Review by Carissa Thorp

Sasha, the princess turned warrior, has been exiled from Lenayin and has joined her Master in the trading city of Petrodor. They, and others, seek to prevent a crusade against the Serrin, but disagree about the method to do so. Political, religious, family, and even philosophical differences conspire to light a spark to the volitile world of a too-powerful city.
I enjoyed this second book in the Trial of Blood & Steel series much more than I did the first, though a slow start did not bode well. Jaryd, the main protagonist of a sub-plot in Lenayin, is as tiresome as Sasha was in the first book, and the first part of the book is too long, with too much academic discussion and not enough tangible demonstration of the political, cultural and racial realities. Only when a deadly failure brings Sasha to a personal realisation do things really start taking off; and the wait is worth it. Shepherd is great at building characters and building up to character reversals that really count in the story's climax. Petrodor is a gripping and satisfying read. Apparently there's two more in the series; I'm really looking forward to reading them.