Last of the Wilds is the second book in the Age of the Five trilogy, after Priestess of the White. Where I had a hard time getting into the book with the first one in the series, with Last of the Wilds I got sucked in immediately. This was partly because it's the second book in the series – the story doesn't need as much set up, plus I wanted to know what happened next after the events of book one – and partly because the prologue was captivating and written from the point of view of one of my favourite characters of the book, Reivan.One of the things I noted for Priestess of the White was the fact that because they are given no voice of their own, the Pentadrians remain mysterious. This mystery makes them seem far scarier that they perhaps are and more evil, because it allows the Circlians to ascribe all manner of nastiness to them, and neither the ordinary Circlians nor the reader know any better. In Last of the Wilds this ignorance is remedied through Reivan. Reivan is a Thinker, an inventor/scientist, who was drafted into the Pentadrian army. We meet her and the rest of the surviving Pentadrian army as they travel back from the battle that ended the last book. I loved Reivan's voice and her enquiring mind; she's analytical, logical and practical. At the same time, Reivan loves her gods and one of her major regrets is not having any Skills and so not being able to become a Servant of the gods. When she comes to the attention of Second Voice Imenja, she is unexpectedly given the opportunity to become a Servant regardless of being unSkilled and so we follow her into the Sanctuary and get to see the Pentadrian side of life, much as we got to know the Circlian side of life through Auraya in the previous book.In many ways, Reivan is the Pentadrian mirror to Auraya. Both are young women elevated to unexpected positions and provide the reader with a window on the inner workings of their respective religions. Both have inquisitive minds and ask critical questions, both of themselves and others. They both encounter 'new' races—Auraya the Siyee and Reivan the Elai. It’ll be interesting to see how closely Reivan's storyline will mirror Auraya's in the next book, as it will mean some hard choices for Reivan, judging from those Auraya has to make in this one. It is difficult to discuss Auraya's development in detail as it will contain too many spoilers for the book, but she makes some life-altering choices, which I really respected. Reivan and Auraya also reinforce the sense of similarity between the Circlian and Pentadrian religions and make it plain that all is not as it seems with the gods. At times Canavan makes this point a little too strongly, almost hitting the reader over the head with it, though that might just be my perception as I'd already read this book once before and as such already had some inkling of it.Next to Reivan's additional point of view, we also get new points of view from Mirar and from Imi. Both of them are familiar from the previous book, but in Last of the Wilds we get active points of view from them. Both of them give added perspectives, Mirar on the history of those who opposed the gods and Imi on Elai society and the Pentadrians. I really enjoyed these new viewpoints, especially Imi's; they also give us more knowledge of the different cultures as we're shown new places in Ithania. Together with Emerahl's storyline, we get a comprehensive overview of Ithania's map and peoples. The religious aspect is also deepened by the three of them. Mirar tells stories of the gods, that the gods might not want spread and so gives us more information, Imi learns about the Pentadrian gods, after knowing only the worship of Huan, and gives a refreshing perspective on inclusiveness – if they're not harming anyone, why mind their existence – and Emerahl encounters yet a new form of religion during her travels, the cult of the Maker, which is basically moving toward a monotheistic form of worship. It'll be interesting to learn what this development will mean for the Five, whether the Circlian or Pentadrian ones, and their peoples. Will it mean harmony, as they unite against it, or yet more strife?As a second book Last of the Wilds is a strong entry in the series. In fact, I'd say I liked this book better than Priestess of the White as it's more even-paced and moves the story on quite a bit. It'll be fascinating to see where Canavan takes Ithania's story, especially as I've never read the final book in the trilogy, Voice of the Gods, before. Canavan has set up some pretty major plot points to be resolved in this last book, such as the true nature of the Five, the fate of the Wilds, the uneasy peace between Circlians and Pentadrians, the rise of the Cult of the Maker and of course the fate of all of our main characters. I hope the ending is as good as I'm expecting, but if Last of the Wilds is any indication, Voice of the Gods will deliver a great ending.
Ich freue mich, wenn ihr meine Rezension von Trudi Canavans Magier. Das Zeitalter der Fünf in meinem Buchkritik-Blog besucht. Da könnt ihr auch eure Kommentare da lassen!Danke :)Kennt ihr diese Bücher, die eigentlich echt langweilig sind, aber dann doch spannend genug, dass man sie weiter lesen muss? Schrecklich, sowas, nicht wahr?Tja. Leider ist Trudi Canavans Roman ein solches Buch. Man kann es wohl so im Bus lesen oder so, aber sich mal so hinsetzen und lesen, das geht nicht. Gar nicht. Dafür ist die Geschichte leider einfach zu zerstückelt. Klar, es ist ein besonderes Stilmittel verschiedene Handlungsstränge am Ende zusammenzuführen und alles zu einem Ganzen werden zu lassen. Nur leider ist Trudi Canavan das hier nicht ganz gelungen. Jedes Mal, wenn ich wieder von meiner Lieblingsperson gelesen habe, war nach drei Seiten der Fokus auf jemand anderes. Damit meine ich jemand ganz anderes, andere Geschichte, anderer Ort, andere Aufgaben. Bis sich die ersten Verbindungen ergeben muss man drei Viertel des Buches durchgelesen haben und das ist mir zu anstrengend. Der Schreibstil ist sehr gut und der Roman ist leicht zu lesen (und auch gut übersetzt!), daher ist es auch so gut für unterwegs, aber die Sprünge finden zu oft statt und sind zu groß.Etwas Positives ist, dass man schnell die beschriebene Welt versteht. Ich habe dieses Buch mal vor einiger Zeit zu Weihnachten bekommen, es ist das zweite einer Trilogie, das wusste der Schenker wohl nicht. Aber trotz des fehlenden Wissens vom ersten Band kann ich die Geschichte(n) im zweiten Teil gut mitverfolgen. Ferner finde ich es interessant, dass Trudi Canavan so häufig die Figuren sprechen lässt. Es finden sich zahlreiche kursiv gedruckte Stellen im Buch wieder, wo man die Gedanken der Personen in der Ich-Form vermittelt bekommt, obwohl der Erzähler aus der Er/Sie-Perspektive erzählt. Das gefällt mir. Vor allem, dass die Figuren sich untereinander via Gedanken vernetzen und kontaktieren können, das bildet irgendwie witzigerweise das Äquivalent zum Handy.Dennoch muss ich erwähnen, ich habe das Buch jetzt weggelegt (bin auf Seite 625 von 788), da es mir einfach nicht das bietet, was ich lesen möchte. Und es passiert mir sehr sehr sehr selten, dass ich Bücher zur Seite lege, das letzte Mal war es Oliver Twist und das war vor einigen Jahren.EDIT, 30.05.2015 - Ich habe es doch nicht weglegen können (weil ich mir gegenüber dem Buch dann so unfair vorkam) und jetzt letztendlich durchgelesen. Zum Ende hin ist Magier. Das Zeitalter der Fünf doch etwas spannender geworden, wahrscheinlich, damit der Leser gespannt auf den letzten Teil der Trilogie warten kann.
What do You think about Last Of The Wilds (2006)?
this was a really good book. it was definitely better than the first book of trilogy, even though it still was not the kind of book that makes you sit on the edge of your chair at the beggining, it was a lot more exiting than the first book, and as pages went by you began to care more about the characters. both Mirar's inner fight to realize who he really was and auraya's inner fight as she began to doubt the gods she once loved without conditions were amazingly written.by the end of the book the story was moving on a rapid pace and it was hard to put the book down. the end of the book was breath taking and i'm looking forward to reading the last book of trilogy.the time skips between parts of the book were one of the best points of the book because they saveed the reader from going through boring details of travels , prepreations for war and ... that are uually repeated in every book!the most important thing about this series is that it's a lot more realistic than most of fantasies i have ever read and while this fact makes the pace slower and the characters take a lot more time to make decisions than what we are used to, it's also what makes the book a lot more memorable and it's effect a lot more powerful . the fact that characters take so much time to make decisions makes the reader accept the final choice completely. the fact that auraya even at the end did not turn on gods even though it did iritate me a bit was a lot more acceptable than when in a lot of book the first character makes life changing decisions every chapter!
—Shima
Book 2... nicely written but a little vague. When I was reading, i seems that i was jumping from one story to the next. But it is not something i dislike, after all, the story of the age of the five consists of multiple characters, too many not to be mentioned. It would surely spoil the entire story if none of the characters were explained or stated properly.I have come to love Auraya since I first read the first book. To me, she is simple much more than the Gods thinks she is and I like the way
—Duffy
Last of the Wilds is the second book on the Age of the Five trilogy. Priestess of the White ended with the aftermath of the religious war between the Circlians and Pentadrians. The five were clearly victorious, but not without some losses. This book is mostly about the return to normal life after the war. Alliances have been forged to gather help to fight the evil other side, but they remain strong in times of peace through commerce and cooperation. And the Pentadrians are also trying to make amends and figure out how could they have lost.Amidst it all there is also the personal struggles of various characters: Auraya, who lost the man she loved as he was sent away because he follows a different religion, as well as having to make sense of what she has seen in the war; Leiard, that has to come to terms with the voice in his head, his other personality, and figure out what it means; Emerahl, who has to choose between hiding again or helping her friend...Like the first book in the series, this one also features multiple points of view, telling the story of different characters that will, in most cases, encounter each other. Although this is usually great, helping to show the different stories, in this book it was a bit too much. The shifting points of view made me queasy - each part was very short, never giving time to "enter" the story before moving to the next one. It was really hard to connect with any of the characters, especially the new ones, at first. Eventually it got better (either the parts became longer or I got used to it) and it was easier to enjoy the story.Auraya is still a major character, as is Leiard. Leiard I liked from the beginning, and I really enjoyed his parts, especially his inner monologue/dialogue with Mirar. Auraya is starting to grow on me, especially when she shows that she isn't just a mindless follower of the Gods and is capable of thinking for herself – by the end of the book I really wanted to know more of what is going to happen to her.The inclusion of Reivan made me squint my eyes and say "I see what you did there!". Reivan becomes a Servant of the Gods (the Pentadrian ones), eventually becoming a councillor to one of the Voices. Telling the other side of the struggle gave a whole new depth to the story - suddenly it was harder to "hate" the Pentadrians, because they had faces and you knew their motivations. And to be honest, the Circlians were never the good guys in my eyes. Not that I'm on the Pentadrian side either. (Definitely with the Dreamweavers that don't care for any type of Gods and just want to help people regardless of what they believe.)If in Priestess of the White there were the Siyee, as a stranger species, not like humans in appearance, but not devoid of Humanity; in Last of the Wilds we have the Elai, creatures of the sea - but not mermaids, that are even more distrustful of landwalkers than their winged counterparts. I really like to read about different races, seemingly so alien, and about their culture and their lives, and these sea folks were a treat for me. What I liked on the first book is exactly what I liked on this one. The third side of the matter, the world-building, the different races, and the emotional struggle of the characters regarding their beliefs and their way of living. It is all there, and then some more.Also at Spoilers and Nuts
—Quigui
