Endling #2: The First (Katherine Applegate)

Endling #2: The First
The Endling series, Book 2
Katherine Applegate
Harper
Fiction, MG? Fantasy
****+ (Good/Great)

DESCRIPTION: Once the runt of her pack, Byx has become the endling - the last known living member - of her species, the doglike dairnes. The humans of Nedarra, under the warlike leader the Murdano, hunted them to extinction for their ability to tell truth from lies. Worse, not one of the other sentient species of the world acted to defend the peaceful dairnes. Old legends spoke of a floating island where some of her kind might survive... and now, at long last, she is almost there. But the land is still on the brink of war, and the Murdano isn't the only despot seeking power through wanton slaughter. Whether she wishes it or not, Byx is now caught up in greater problems - and, if she finds any more survivors of her species, they may be in greater danger than ever if revealed.


REVIEW: An excellent, fast-paced sequel, Endling #2: The First suffers mostly from being the middle book in a probable trilogy, beginning and ending partway through a greater arc. Things pick up almost exactly where they left off, with Byx and her companions - the would-be warrior queen Khara, the boy thief Renzo, the brave little wobbyx Tobble, and the great hunting felivet Gambler (and, of course, the dog named Dog) - journeying north to the realm of Dreyland in the hopes of finding the floating island they seek... but Dreyland proves at least as dangerous as the kingdom they just left, and the island does not prove to be the sanctuary Byx had dreamed of. Once more, the world in general and war in particular are shown in all their complicated shades of gray; even those acting for the best reasons find themselves unable to avoid the thorny realities of conflict. War means death, whatever one's intentions, though sometimes one has no choice but to fight back. (Of course, I expect no less from Katherine "Animorphs" Applegate; she has yet to write down to her audience in any of her works that I've read, even if some grown-ups would prefer blunted corners. The journey is not a bloodless one.) More wonders and dangers are revealed in Applegate's marvelously inventive fantasy world, and the friendship of the core cast only grows stronger through adversity. Byx in particular has come a very long way indeed from the insecure daydreaming pup she was at the start, though she still has a long ways to go if she means to save not only her species, but the world: one of the overall lessons of her journey and the story itself is how all lives and people are connected, and the loss of one will inevitably affect all, even if they deny it. I'm looking forward to the next installment. (There has to be another one, right? Applegate wouldn't just leave threads dangling like that...)

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