'The long-awaited founding of Valdemar comes to life in this second book in the new series from a New York Times-bestselling author and beloved fantasist. Baron Valdemar and his people have found a temporary haven, but it cannot hold all of them, or for long. Trouble could follow on their heels at any moment, and there are too many people for Crescent Lake to support. Those who are willing to make a further trek by barge on into the West will follow him into a wilderness depopulated by war and scarred by the terrible magics of a thousand years ago and the Mage Wars. But the wilderness is not as empty as it seems. There are potential friends and rapacious foes........and someone is watching them.'
The second part of the new prequel trilogy that explores the beginnings of the popular fantasy series is now out in paperback in the UK, just in time to get ready for the final part to be released.
Following the dramatic events of the previous book, which saw the brave Baron Kordas evacuating his people from under the nose of a cruel empire, and the destruction of the capital of said empire, the refugees find themselves in a strange new land, searching for a home. The book begins not long after the first ended, with the people of Valdemar living in thousands of barges in the lake where they first found themselves after fleeing the empire. With tens of thousands of people crammed into these temporary homes, in a distant and unknown place, things are tough.
Baron Kordas, having prepared for this moment his entire life, finds that despite all of the plans laid out by him, and his father and grandfather before him, there was nothing that could have prepared them for the strangeness of the place they would find themselves. As the refugees set out down river, hoping to find a land that can safely support them all and not harm anyone else who lives in the area, they begin to discover strange and dangerous threats along the way. With monstrous creatures, giant animals, and spots of intense magic to contend with, Kordas and his people will have to contend with the impossible. And all the while, there is a greater force watching over them, judging their actions.
Into the West is a very different kind of book to Beyond, the first in the series. Where that book dealt with political machinations, secret plans, and a desperate escape against an ever decreasing deadline, this book in contrast feels a lot less tense. There's no looming threat here, and whilst the refugees will encounter dangers along the way there's not constant worry in the same way that there was worry about what the Emperor might do as was present in the first book. This doesn't mean that there's no tension, however, as the book instead focuses on the much smaller, human drama that the escapees have to deal with.
The politics of the high court are replaces with having to keep order amongst a group of people who were forced to feel their homes, who are constantly on the move, and who need to pool together in order to survive. Across the book we see Kordas and his advisers having to deal with this in various ways, from the distribution of food and equipment, to people wanting to leave the group altogether. It's the kind of stuff that I can see some readers getting a bit glassy eyed over, but I found it really interesting to watch how this group tried to survive on their journey to a new home, and in some ways it felt like the fantasy version of the Battlestar Galactica remake, where you'd see how the convoy were having to work together and how the people in charge dealt with interpersonal issues amongst various groups.
But, not all of the conflict in the book comes from within, and there's a great deal of new and amazing things to discover as the group makes their way down river. There are several creatures that the group come across on their journey that lead to some shocking moments, and some interesting revelations about the place that they've found themselves in. The best of these, for me, was the forest. This part of the book was hugely fascinating, and had some wonderfully tense moments and a few things that made my jaw drop open in surprise, and I'd loved to have seen more stuff like this throughout the book. As it was, this ended up being a big moment, and one that I ended up thinking about for a good long while after finishing the book.
Most of the characters remain fairly consistent across the book, and the journey into the unknown only ends up strengthening them in a lot of ways. Most of the characters that we follow are leaders, and people with the experience and expertise needed to get everyone to their new home safely, and as such they tend not to have moments of weakness, nor moments of doubt. The main exception, the character who gets the biggest arc and goes through the most changes is Delia. Delia isn't much of a character in the first book, and begins this one as a girl used to the life of luxury forced to have to work all day, and who harbours a crush on her brother-in-law. She's the kind of character who I'd have ended up hating if she'd have remained this way. Thankfully, she gets put into an important role early on, and ends up becoming a much better person because of it. As the book doesn't really take the time to look at many of the people in the expedition, Delia kind of acts as their representive, and her journey from someone unable to survive on her own to a hardened and competent member of the convoy reflects what many of the Valdemarian people will have gone through.
I was also glad that the Dolls feature heavily in this book too, and I adored the changes that they went through and their evolution. They were one of the things in the first book that really fascinated me, and certain Dolls quickly became some of my favourite characters in the second book too.
There's a lot to like about this entry in the series, even if it's a very different kind of book than the first. And, much like the first book, there are some dramatic changes towards the end of the book that look set to create a foundation for a third book that goes in a completely different direction again. I imagine this book is full of easter eggs and special nods for people who have read other entries in the Valdemar series, but even as someone who came to this trilogy with no experience of the other books it's been a fantastic read throughout.
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