A Blight of Blackwings by Kevin Hearne
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I'm very happy with Hearne's epic fantasy. It has all that vibe of the hinterlands and schools of primal magic while breaking a bit away from the first book's slightly YA vibe to hit pretty hard on the political stuff.

I mean, damn, I didn't expect it to veer away from political intrigue and just dive into CREATING A NEW POLITICAL SYSTEM instead. :) But why not? Fantasy (as well as SF) has always been known for vast worldbuilding, and this is just another aspect of the same. :) But please don't mistake me. This is brimming over with all the other worldbuilding aspects. So many peoples, languages, cultures... all of them making a melting pot. It kinda brings a tear to my eye. :)

Of course, the detractors, the revolution, the bees, and wasps... well all those things are just gravy. :)

But you know what really stood out more than all the memorable characters?

The bard's songs.

Some of that stuff was crazy funny. :)

And yes, for all you fans of Hearne's UF series, he never forgets his humorous roots. He's just expanded his repertoire. And continues to expand it in this book. :)

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