Read The Sapphire Flute before starting this book. The number of people introduced in the first three chapters is mind boggling if you’re not already familiar with the story, and besides, The Armor of Light begins where The Sapphire Flute left off.  I started book 2 thinking the author would describe the continuing settings and characters and explain the backstory basics. She didn’t, so I had to go back and read the series from the beginning to get a mental picture of book 2’s beginning.  I loved book one even though it came to a stopping place as opposed to a real end. It wasn’t meant as a standalone.

I have to admit I wanted to dislike the second book for not being a standalone.  That lasted all of three chapters.  Then the author began introducing new situations and new magical phenomena as she ramped up the tension.  All the color and detail of the first book wove itself into the second tapestry.

One storyline features romance with competing suitors, heart-breaking betrayal, magical battles, death and hopelessness.  I cried through certain chapters. Evil gets its due in this book with a storyline fleshing out the antagonists and making one of them seem sympathetic—in a twisted way. The main story focuses on learning, friendship, trust and free-will in a case of nature versus nurture. When hidden evil undermines the good influences, conflicted characters must run or face-off with betrayers.

With exception of some well-deserved dread at expectation the three stories will come together in a disastrous way, little feels formulaic about evil’s bid to gain control of the magic keystones that created  Rasann. When the storylines come together with a crash, the elements combine with dark magic to rage against the magic academy that serves to protect the world. A battle ensues that could end in the death of the only person able to mend the fraying magic holding Rasann together.

As trials, joy and sorrow transform the characters in the book, so you will be transformed in the reading.  If not for the lack of adequate descriptions in the beginning, I would give The Armor of Light 5 stars. The ending resolves most of the conflicts in a way that feels satisfying to the reader even though the characters suffer great loss and face a terrible challenge, setting a difficult path for future books in the series.  I look forward to the journey.

  The Sapphire Flute is more than a magical tale—it is two tales skillfully interwoven around one world, Rasann, held together with fraying bands of magic long overdue for mending.  If the white mage doesn’t appear soon, Rasann will fall apart at the seams and S’Kotos, the destroyer, will triumph. One story thread forms the warp and the other the weft of this tapestry, one dipping where the other raises, the mark of a sure hand at storytelling.  Be warned, The Sapphire Flute is part of a series and will leave you anxious to see the complete tapestry.  Color is key, so here are a few samples of the tones.

Ember, at sixteen, feels stifled by her mother’s restrictions against magic and chafes to free herself for better reasons than teenage rebellion. Dreaming she will die at the hands of S’Kotos’ evil servant, Ember knows she must flee her home and learn magic to protect herself. Terrible dangers await if she dares step out her door, yet magic can only be learned at the Academy, and then only if Ember possesses  enough magic to survive the journey and escape  her enemies long enough to pass the entrance exams.

 Kayla, a talented young woman scorned by the aristocracy for her half-evahn heritage, is about to achieve her dreams through hard work and long practice. So beautifully does she play the flute, one might think it magic enough to win the king’s heart. Little does she know one small mistake will bring her world crashing down, endangering her life, her loved ones’ lives, and a city. Even Rasann may fall.

 Without revealing the details of why I hated to stop reading long enough to change planes, I can only say Karen’s tale interweaves novel creatures and characters fully fleshed out with strong motives for preservation or destruction and draws them all taught. The wolfchild is like no werewolf you’ve ever seen, and I say see because you will see all Karen’s creatures and scenes as if you were there.  She dyed her story threads in all the hues of a rainbow, and I hope you don’t wait until a rainy day to enjoy its beauty.