Wings of Wrath: Emotional, dark, excellent

Wings of Wrath by C.S. Friedman

C.S. Friedman’s Wings of Wrath is the second book in her Magister Trilogy. It focuses on the story of a god-blessed race, the lyr, who have spent the last 1000 years preparing for the return of the Souleaters. At the end of the previous war with the Souleaters, the gods sent a magical wall, known as the Wrath, to bar them from ever being able to cross back into human lands again. Ever since, the lyr have been guarding the Wrath and watching for the Souleaters to reappear. But now the Wrath is weakening, and Souleaters have been seen again.

What would have been a standard band-of-heroes-on-a-quest-to-save-civilization-from-the-evil-monsters story in the hands of a lesser author shines here with Friedman’s writing. Her prose is lush, and she uses incredible imagery to create a world that lives. She elicits an emotional response from the reader, at one point bringing tears to my eyes, and at another point leaving me stunned in shock. The pacing is impeccable. Even though this is the second book in the series, it manages to simultaneously advance the story and set up the finale, while yet having a major climax and resolution of plot lines that makes the story stand on its own.

Friedman excels at dark fantasy and characterization, and both of those talents are on full display in Wings of Wrath. Magic in this world requires the expenditure of life energy, either your own or someone else’s, and that sets up a system of magic that is vampiric in flavor. The Souleaters are just what they sound like — enormous creatures that are somewhat of a cross in looks between a dragon and a dragonfly, that feed on the souls of humans. These two elements combine to create a world that is dark, though richly detailed and fully fleshed out. Friedman balances three different major plot lines with several different characters providing points of view. Each character has his or her own motivations, and each person has flaws. These characters undergo major challenges in this book, and deal with them in psychologically realistic ways.
C.S. Friedman is also willing to kill off major characters when the plot needs it, which provides an added note of realism and tension to the story.

Wings of Wrath is an excellent book. It is tightly plotted with interesting characters and well paced action, which makes this a novel I can highly recommend to anyone who enjoys their fantasy emotionally realistic and dark. I am wondering how Friedman will manage to tie up all the story lines with just one book to go, and am eagerly anticipating finding out.