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Chimes at Midnight Reviews (Vine Voice)

5.0 out of 5 stars Bright Morn of Issareth, Volume V, The Red Book – Part 2 – 98 episodes

Reviewed in the United States on February 20, 2023

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I urge you to read this story in volume-order, otherwise you won’t understand or appreciate who the characters are and how they’re gotten to this point.

*****

Early in The Red Book, Part 2, I had a sense—a foreshadowing—that horror lurks in the depths of The Sanctuary. Rising in the back of my mind was the suspicion that The Sanctuary is something different than the historical accounts would have everyone believe. Twenty episodes on, the hairs on my arms stood up in my excitement of an important discovery, and the plot continued to twist, turn, and take off in unexpected directions until the end. There is a mixture of humor, deception, anticipation, and intrigue woven throughout the story.

A new character—Tzu—is introduced. I instantly liked him for his outrageous behavior, intelligence, and wit. Read carefully when he’s on the scene, because there are layers to him that will peel away piecemeal. I appreciated learning more of the Calaryn history of which Tzu helps unravel. But the more that is revealed about the Calaryns, the more questions arise about them.

Three quarters of the way through, I was happy and content with the story moving along in the day-to-day lives at the Manor: Bright Morn discovering more about his past lives; wedding plans moving along on schedule for Morn and Sorrifa; Little One and Dasch maturing separately and together in a brother/sister relationship. It was feeling very family-oriented.

That the code to the Red Book was slowly being ‘cracked’, and more was understood on its pages, was also a welcome part of the story. Soon, the plot-pace picked up, and I sensed a boom was about to be lowered. And lower it did with a resounding BOOM that tied-in with events Morn and Little One experienced when they were trapped underground in The Sanctuary in a previous volume.

Then revelations about Morn, Tzu, and even Little One, along with the last line in the story, sent my thoughts racing with so many questions. The previous volumes ended on eyebrow-raising, breath-catching cliffhangers. While this volume also ends with an intriguing cliffhanger, I liked that it is a thought-provoking and intellectual missing-puzzle-piece ending that left me, delightedly, wondering what will happen next.