The second in the Dobrenica series by Sherwood Smith, Blood Spirits picks up a few months later (Christmas break to be exact) after Coronets and Steel with Kim helping to save her coworker and realizing that she needs to face what happened, to face Alec. Only to learn that her doppelganger has died. And that she did more harm than good by leaving the first time.
For me, this book was much more… logical in the pacing. We have the world set up and we have an idea of how crazy the actions of the characters are. And we got to see a lot more of the magical side of everything.
Sadly, we don’t get as much of Alec as I would like, and we see him far more reserved and cautious compared to the first novel. What helped too is that there weren’t too many new characters to try and keep straight, and the story really reached back into time more than even the first one did as far as the country itself is concerned, separate from Kim’s family’s past.
Better written than the first novel, Blood Spirits has gotten me to request the next novel in the series from my local library.
If you enjoy action and adventure with very little romance and a good deal of magic into the modern world, this could be a very good choice. The writing is still a bit confusing and all over the place, but if you made it through the first one and didn’t give up halfway through, I’d say the sequel is worth the read if you enjoyed the plot and characters from the first.
