People of the Thunder by Kathleen O'Neal Gear & W. Michael Gear

So, this is the one book in the series that I can't say can be read as a stand-alone.  Although, only The People of the Weeping Eye needs to be read before it.  So as the sixteenth book in a series, that's not too bad if you want to pick and choose what you read.  And while I don't think this one had quite the shine to it that The People of the Weeping Eye did, it was still pretty good.

We are midway through the story of Trader, Seeker and the Contrary (and a whole slew of other characters).  Having learned that Power wants them to return home, they embark on a perilous journey that will lead them through war, angry factions, and to a city where there are evil people in positions of power.  Home is also where Trader's long lost love is and more complications will arise because of that as well.

Trader is a great character.  He's humble, kind, and still enough of a bad boy to make him interesting.  Not to mention he seems to have everyone's best interests at heart.  Seeker is a little more boring to me.  At least we learned his story finally, but it was drawn out long enough that I lost interest in it.  And Two Petal, the Contrary, was also not as interesting in this second half of the book.  She didn't provide comic relief and I thought her part of the story a bit strange and disjointed.  I could see where the authors were trying to go with her character, but it just didn't work for me.

Since this wraps up the story from the first book I was pleased with it.  I really wanted to know what would happen and even though it was a bit rushed and anti-climactic, it was still a decent story.  There was more rape, and violence, and terrible things, but the description wasn't nearly what it was in previous books.  So while it's still not for the timid or easily grossed out, it's not going to make you stare in shock at what's on the page either.  I was glad that the mystical was toned down in this book again too.  It's not nearly as blatant or weird as it was in the first few books and it actually seemed to fit with everything else that was going on.  So while this is sort of the last book (they have a few more that loosely tie in I guess) I'm glad to see that the authors improved as time went on.

An interesting series.  I'd definitely recommend this book and its first part, the rest I could probably take or leave.

People of the Thunder
Copyright 2008
496 pages