Random Ramblings: Reviews and Whatnot : Retribution Calls by Justin Sloan: Book Review **Spoilers**

This review contains spoilers so be warned!

We pick right were the last book left off, with Narcel and Kaire heading north. As stated in the last review, that girl has issues. Right off the bat she is driving me crazy with her wishy washy attitude and her mood swings. It's only chapter one and I want Narcel to send her back to her destroyed city she keeps bitching about leaving. What an ungrateful little jerk, He saved her from death and took her away from a psychotic bastard.

Anyways, the two are off and she starts telling him that she doesn't know how she feels about him anymore and that he is not the same person that she fell in love with. Wait a minute! This reminds me of something!

The only difference is that Linda is just not sure about getting married. She isn't playing with Robbie's heart dangling another man in front of him. Way to go Kaire, you make Linda seem not so bad after all.

On their journey they encounter some Mawtu warriors who claim they are not there to kill Narcel, but he ain't buying that crap for one minute and he and Kaire actually kick their butts. Well actually they killed them, so at least she loves him enough not to let him die.

They later encounter a stranger who was distracting them as his cronies attacked from behind. They knock out Narcel and abduct Kaire (I give them till the end of the day to bring her back because she drives them all nuts). We then cut to that creepy bastard Lokum (Man, I wanted this guy to die in the last book) getting helped by his cronies. He is yelling that Narcel took Kaire and that they must travel north to get her back. We also learn that all the survivors of the battle are traveling to Nethia for assistance. Once they arrive, they learn that Gaila was asked to be in their council and they appointed that turd Lokum to a spot with the generals as well (They must be desperate).

Narcel awakens and wants to find they cook Kaire. He finds tracks that appear to be made from her dress and he follows them into a building where the tracks led to and busted in the door to save his crazy lady. She was tied up and gagged in the back of the room and as he went to help her he was attacked. It turns out it is Semreh his best friend among the Mawtu recruits. I really like the way this fight was written, it delivers on intense action and let's you see both perspectives as Narcel and Semreh explain their actions. They come to an understanding and we learn that Semreh did not kidnap Kaire, he actually saved her from the abductors that attacked Narcel.

The three of them decide to travel north together and wouldn't you know it, that psycho Kaire tried to seduce Semreh while he was bathing in the river and Narcel saw it! Seriously this chick has some issues! So needless to say that this changed things between Narcel and Semreh, but it actually helped Narcel realize that Kaire is not the same girl that he fell in love with and that he may actually not love her after all.

We go back to Nethia where Lokum sleeps with servant girls even though he "loves" Kaire, we see Gaila on the council, learn that Charos is there to assist as well, and Lokum gathers his troops in order to go search for Kaire.

Narcel asks Semreh to head off on his own so he can sort things out with Kaire and he agrees and heads off. At the same time Lokum meets up with a group of Mawtu who make an alliance. Semreh and Lokum get into a fight and Lokum gets his butt whooped pretty bad too. At this point we are reintroduced to Adonis as he removes his helmet to show Lokum that he is Sinoda.

All of this is just up to chapter 7! There is a lot to take in in the beginning of this book, and I don't want this review being the length of a novel so I will condense the rest of the story.

Narcel falls in a rapid river heading down a waterfall and Kaire hesitates to grab his hand causing him to be taken away with the current! I told you this woman is a psychopath! Narcel is rescued by a group of northerners on their way back home. He feels at home with them and their way of life and he wants to be part of their community. He even changed his name to Equitas and fell in love with a woman name Amaris. We learn that she is promised to be married to the king (poor Narcel can never find a woman with no mental problems or attachments). Kaire returned to her city and saw all the ruins, Gaila wants Lokum captured and brought up on treason charges, and Lokum set up an alliance with a band of Mawtu.

Okay so there was a lot more going on in there, but I do not want to spoil everything. The rest of the book builds up to a great climax. The battles are well writen just like the first book and the character development is still strong. I thought that I would be a bit bored when we were not dealing with Narce...I mean Equitas, but that was not the case at all. This book reads as if it was one big book with Land of Gods. In listening to an interview with Justin he even mentions that it is intended to be that way. This kept you interested right from the beginin and requires no recap at all. You can just jump right in and follow along with Nar...Equitas!

So without spoiling the end I will say that it was great. I was imagining it playing out as a TV show building up to the season finale, and that is exactly how it felt as it came to an end. I can't wait to jump into book three to see were it ends up. I also saw that Justin wrote a prequel to this book and I am sure that I will read that as well. (So many books so little time)!

What will I rate this book you ask? Will it be as good as book one? Well since the last book was a Golden Beard Award winner it has some pressure on it for sure. After reading the book I was grading it based on the story, characters, setting, and overall tone. The book delivers on all of them just as the previous volume. I still think the first book was my favorite based on the development of Narcel and was worried that it would not hold up.

I was wrong. We got more development on Narcel and how he became Equitas. We get more on the transformation of Sinoda to Adonis as well, something that was lacking in the first book. I also like the development of Amaris as well. It was nice to see a strong woman for Equitas to be attracted to that is not a psycho hose beast for sure.

In all, I would have to say that this is an excellent book that I could find no faults with (To be fair for the review I did look for them too). If you haven't read this series yet WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?! Go read them now. You won't be disappointed. We got another perfect 5 on the beard scale and the pressure is now on to see if Justin can pull off the Hat Trick! We shall see.