Wednesday, August 7, 2013

Returner's Wealth by Paul Stewart, Chris Riddell

Micah is determined to find some returner's wealth so he can return home and win the princess' heart.  The problem with his quest is that the princess has a cold heart and no real interest in Micah and that it should be called "survivor's" wealth.  It's a cold brutal land out there where the wyrms live and they'd just as soon eat you.

Open Road Media and Net Galley let me read an ebook of this story for review (thank you).  The book will be published September 3rd, so you don't have long to wait for it.

Micah is 17 and he almost gets killed before he gets to the vacant land that the wryms shelter in.  Luckily a tracker saves him and joins him in his journey.  Without Eli, this would have been a short story.  Eli has secrets and not a lot to say around the campfire, but he knows where he is going and helps Micah stay safe.

Micah meets a friend of Eli's when she treats his shoulder and the great white wyrme she lives with scares him to death.  He's beginning to realize that getting returner's wealth would not be easy.  He's also learning about the wrymes and their kin; he never had any idea such a thing existed.  

When Micah and Eli find Thrace wounded, Micah thinks she's the most beautiful woman he's ever seen.  She also happens to ride a dragon, which means she's not available.

The story is full of a lot of action; not all those on the trail of the wrymes are nice folk.  Soon it turns into a full-fledged war.  

I found this to be an entertaining read, and I especially enjoyed how much Micah grew up during this tale.  What he thought he originally wanted was false and he found himself developing different goals with his new insight.  There's also room for a sequel to this story and I hope to be able to read that later.  The surviving wrymes are not done with Micah yet...

Happy reading.

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