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Lynette, daughter of the High Matriarch, and Joran, her mate, have been on the run from her mother since eloping. They know if they are caught that Joran will be executed. This is also a possibility for Lynette. The High Matriarch mostly cares about her own power and extending her looks through blood magic. All three belong to the majority race of winged people who study magic based on the four elements. The wingless among the population are referred to as grubs and are in servitude to the winged. The two runaways meet a few friends along the way and find an ancient, lost city called Halalouma. Included in these friends are Ooloo and her grandfather, Tavat. Ooloo is Ans’Isna, a word used to describe someone who is important to the fate of their world. Along with this group is the couple’s newborn daughter. Ooloo states that the daughter is also Ans’Insa, and everyone vows that they won’t allow the High Matriarch to know about her existence. However, the group has bigger worries. A powerful sorcerer named Morren, who was horribly disfigured and lost his wings using blood magic and was believed to be dead, is gathering an army of undead with the help of his dragon, Death. Unbeknownst to the group, even he is being led by someone more sinister, the demon Saarnak.
This is the second book in Moore’s series and falls solidly in the high fantasy camp. This genre includes epic stories in fantasy settings that include lots of magic and mythical creatures. Some similar offerings in the genre include Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings series and Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time. All these authors offer multi-volume series with a large cast of characters facing overwhelming odds from sinister forces bent on reshaping the world to fit their desires. Typically, these books will establish the good vs. evil motif with a few characters who operate on the margins. Moore, along with the aforementioned authors, sticks to that. Occasionally, a high fantasy author will intentionally make their epic fall into a morally grey area, as George R.R. Martin did in his A Song of Ice and Fire series. What sets Moore’s series apart from many of these others is that most of Moore’s main characters can fly. In this sense, the book will likely remind readers of Patterson’s young adult series Maximum Ride. Having flying characters is a bit more uncommon. It means the author has more to think about when it comes to the quest/travel portion included in high fantasy books. In addition, the author must be tactically aware of this ability as this genre includes many skirmishes, typically culminating in one or a series of large-scale battles.
Moore’s writing shows good control of the grammatical elements of fiction writing as well as an understanding of the elements that make a high fantasy novel. Readers who enjoyed her first book will surely devour this one and find themselves urging Moore to release book three quickly. Moore’s best character in this book is a man named Lare, a side character of sorts who has a growing role throughout. If her next book contains more characters with this kind of story and depth, Moore should keep readers coming back for more.