The Gathering of the Lost by Helen Lowe – A Review

It’s really good, but I would have liked it if there was more Honour Captain Asantir in it.

 

 

What? You want a full review of this? Fine, fine, here’s a full review.

The sequel to Helen Lowe’s novel, Heir of Night, the Gathering of the Lost takes place five years after the events of Heir of Night. After Malian’s disappearance, it’s becoming apparent that there are sinister designs being made upon the southern areas of the novels’ world, and the main characters must unravel a plot by the darkswarm that threatens to plunge the southern lands into chaos and undermine the Derai wall that keeps them at bay.

Unlike The Heir of Night, The Gathering of the Lost hardly even bothers with a glimpse at the Derai Wall, and instead focuses on the southern parts of Haarth, the world the novels are set in. I was somewhat curious about these places when they were mentioned in the first book, and so I enjoyed the in-depth exploration of these places that Lowe undertook throughout the novel.

What’s also notable is the handling of character perspectives, which were a radical departure from what I had expected; the first parts of the novel are focussed exclusively on Jehane Mor and Tarathan of Ar, the two Heralds from Heir of Night, and the second on a completely new character. It may seem a bit incongruous at first, but Jehane and Tarathan are interesting enough in their own right to carry their segments of the novel with ease, and the business with the new character ends up tying into the novels’ overall story arc quite neatly and cleverly.

As expected, the second book introduces several new characters, and as I’ve also come to expect from Helen Lowe’s work, they’re all interesting, particularly the mercenary/knight Ser Raven. The darkswarm are expanded on some more and gain some extra depth, the intrigue is layered on thick and the plot twists are clever, tricky to see coming and actually add to the story. My one gripe with the previous novel wherein dangerous situations were remedied by the sudden intervention of a third party is no longer an issue and with that, it leaves me with a novel that gets just about everything right. Except for the lack of Captain Asantir. That had me a bit annoyed.

Once again, while The Gathering of the Lost may not break any new ground in regards to traditional high fantasy writing, it still writes really, really well. It may be the fantasy equivalent of pasta and tomato sauce, but the sauce has been cooked to perfection and the pasta isn’t actually pasta, but gnocchi. Even if it’s basic, that’s a damn fine meal in its own right.