Maelstrom, Jordan L. Hawk
Maelstrom cranks things up another notch for Whyborne and Griffin. It’s difficult to review without spoilering either this book or at least its predecessors, but let’s see what I can do. First, I’d highly recommend against trying to start here if you haven’t read the others. Details from the other books are important here, particularly the first book and Bloodline, and a bunch of things come together.
What’s nice is that, if nothing else, at this point Whyborne and Griffin rely on each other instead of letting tension crack them apart (and we’re starting to see Christine and Iskander have the same kind of bond). I also really liked the careful tightrope-walking of Niles Whyborne’s increased part in the story: he was still an asshole and a terrible father, but in losing almost all his family, he’s begun to see that he was wrong and that he misjudged Whyborne completely.
That said, I thought people were a little unfair in pushing Whyborne toward that insight, because they’re basically asking him to reconcile with an abuser. Griffin’s wistfulness about his own family is getting in the way of him seeing that clearly, of course — but others don’t have the excuse.
Anyway, all in all an exciting book, and a pretty awesome development. I’m guessing a gathering together of allies must come next…
Leave a Reply