Review – The Beast Warrior (The Beast Player, Book 2) by Nahoko Uehashi (4/5 stars)
Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Length: 448 pages
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.
Release Date: July 28, 2020
ASIN: B084V1ZTYK
Stand Alone or Series: 2nd book in The Beast Player duology
Source: Borrowed ebook from Library
Rating: 4/5 stars
“Ten years after the fateful clash between two opposing sides of the Divine Kingdom of Lyoza, Elin lives a peaceful life with her family. She tries to stay as far away from her past as possible―the girl who communicated with creatures and befriended a Royal Beast wants no part in the power struggles of humans. But when Elin is called upon to investigate a mysterious illness that’s stricken the Toda, she uncovers a startling plot―one that could threaten everything she holds dear.
In this thrilling sequel to The Beast Player, Elin must confront her destiny and heed the dire warnings of history. Is a final battle between the Toda and the Royal Beasts inevitable? And will it mean destruction for all?”
Series Info/Source: This is the second (and final) book in The Beast Player series. I borrowed this on ebook from my library.
Thoughts: I enjoyed this but it was very different from The Beast Player and completely not what I was expecting. It is well done but a lot more time is spent on politics and war and those aren’t my favorite types of stories.
This book takes place ten years after the last book ended. Elin is married with a son and lives a mostly peaceful life. Then she is called to investigate a mysterious illness that’s stricken the Toda and accidentally uncovers a very serious plot. With war on the horizon will the Royal Beasts finally be called on to fight the Toda, the very thing that was prohibited by ancient law?
As mentioned above, I wasn’t keen on how much time was spent on the politics here or on the long discussions about war strategy. I ended up skimming a lot of these just because I didn’t find them all that interesting. This book is long and it feels long.
However, I did like the parts where Elin is trying to figure what is happening to the Toda and the parts where she is training the Royal Beasts. I also really enjoyed the parts where Elin was together with her family trying to work through these issues Elin’s son, Jesse, is a wonderful addition to the series and I really loved him a lot.
While the previous book, The Beast Player, was very clearly a middle grade read…this book is more confusing. Jesse is a middle grade aged character, but the story focuses more on political strategy and war and complex politics and magic and this makes the book feel more like an adult read. I don’t remember anything in here that would make this explicitly adult; relations between adults are implied but not described and the war scenes are not overly gory. However, the plot just feels more adult in theme.
The ending was well done but very sad. This did not leave me feeling uplifted, although there is a sort of “many years later” part that helps the reader to find a bit of peace after the tumultuous ending. The whole thing is very well done. I like the world building, the characters, and the overall story.
My Summary (4/5): Overall I ended up really liking this. The world building continues to be well done and the characters (and Royal Beasts) are engaging and fun to read about. There was a bit too much time spent on politics and war planning for my liking, but that is a personal preference. This is very well written but very different in tone from the first book. I would recommend it to those who enjoy historical fantasies about war and forbidden magic.
