Eclipsing the Flames (To Be Nameless Book 2) By C.G. Jaquish
Seven Times Down, Eight Times Up
An Indie Book Review by Joseph Poopinski
4
stars
After Eclipse survives whatever happened in the first book & discovers how her father betrayed her, she submits to imprisonment at the hands of her enemies. This nation’s military strategist, definitely a forward-thinking gambler, extends an olive branch, allowing her a provisional exoneration for war crimes if she promises to X, Y & Z. She does but neither the townsfolk nor the king’s council treats her any better than dirt. The stipulations & culture shock are grueling but Eclipse has endured much worse in her previous career/life. However, Eclipse’s old army, enhanced & invincible, will soon, at her father’s orders, conquer the whole continent. Drama ensues.
Here's what I love about Eclipsing the Flames: The plot, one of my favorite motifs, is a Gladiator-type best warrior, ousted & broken, starting anew from zero, again rockets to prominence, battles courageously & eventually wins the day! Joey the military strategist, notwithstanding his adolescent nickname (which threw me often as incongruent with a grandfatherly statesman-type character’s anticipated appellation like, ahem, Joseph, for instance), offers a sliver of a chance but eventually essentially adopts Eclipse. At every opportunity, she proves her proficiency to him & the other characters, during the middle meat & potatoes chapters, by shedding her past mistakes & abandonment baggage, and then persisting, despite constant struggles, duels & wars, toward redemption. With a nod to legalese (“it is simply a formality…”), humorous turnabouts (broken chairs strike back), irony (“this wouldn’t feel like home if everyone didn’t hate me”), one wicked entrance to the victory ball, Silence of the Lambs tit for tats & Asimov’s Nightfall reimagined as “Voidanuar”, C.G. Jaquish spins a helluva fun yarn & this is only one installment in an octology! Adamere the fuzzy albino bear-panther rocks! The showdown with Darth Maulesque Lakshmi the blood-drinking monk was bonkers, quite epic… bravo!
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