A Vanishing of Griffins
The Songs of Magic series, Book 1
S. A. Patrick
Peachtree
Fiction, MG Fantasy
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: Once, young Patch Brightwater was a failure, running away from his Piper training - where he learned to play magical music - because he didn't want to train in battle magic. After finding Wren, the maid transformed into a rat by a sorcerer, and Barver, a dracogriff protector abandoned by a dragon army, he learned that the man imprisoned for ten years in the Piper dungeons - the ones the dragons executed in fire before his eyes - was not the dreaded Piper of Hamelyn, the madman who stole away human and dragon children for his own nefarious purposes. Indeed, Patch, Wren, and Barver were instrumental in stopping the real Piper of Hamelyn when he attempted to take over the minds of every Piper in the lands, to create a nigh-unstoppable army... but nobody ever found the villain's body. Worse, he fears that members of the Pipers' Council are traitors after hearing a prophecy from a witch woman. But, for all their heroics, he and Wren are still children and Barver's an outsider. What can they do?
After a rescue mission to save a former friend and traveling companion from the clutches of a pirate king (a friend who, due to a misinterpretation of the witch's prophecy, Patch abandoned), Patch and his companions reunite with the few people they know they can trust, remnants of the legendary Eight Pipers who originally hunted down the Piper of Hamelyn (even if they ended up grabbing the wrong man). Unrest is spreading through the land, and the Pipers' Council is only making it worse by inexplicably recalling all of their Custodian Elite Pipers to dedicate them to the manhunt... a manhunt where they seem to be chasing shadows and rumors instead of solid leads. While searching for clues about the murder of one of the Eight, they uncover evidence of what the Piper of Hamelyn may be planning next, a terrible plot that, if it succeeds, would see the whole world of humans, dragons, and griffins fall under the monster's heel forevermore. Patch and his friends aren't about to let that happen if they can help it, but this time the stakes are much higher, as more of the world seems to be falling to chaos and ruin around them.
REVIEW: I hit a string of DNFs (did-not-finish titles) on Libby, so I decided to just go ahead and listen to the second installment of Patch's adventures. Like the first installment, it's a fun adventure in an interesting fantasy world, with some nice emotional weight to the characters and real risks of failure. It doesn't shy away from some of the nastier ways people can treat each other and what they are willing to do in pursuit of power, or just in pursuit of what they're convinced is right, even if that conviction is based on lies and iron-fisted cruelty to others. Patch, Wren, and Barver run afoul of politics and old prejudices wherever they turn for help, as the intelligent races of the world seem to be folding inward and turning away from each other, sometimes violently, just when they need to be uniting to face an existential threat. (Not at all what happens in the real world, of course... ahem...) They're all changing and growing up, though it seems Wren and Barver are facing more growth than Patch at this point; Barver in particular must confront his relationship with both sides of his family and himself, dragon and griffin. The griffins get some nice page time here, fleshing out their culture and history. Wren, meanwhile, still pursues magical knowledge with increasing ruthlessness, taking greater and greater risks that sometimes get her in trouble, as when she undergoes a risky procedure and spends more time learning "impressive" spells than practical ones. Not that Patch is entirely static, though; in addition to coping with the guilt over betraying his old friend over a mistaken reading of the prophecy, he starts taking on more responsibilities and developing his Piper skills. The Piper of Hamelyn, as before, is more of a specter than a character for much of the story, but he remains a formidable enemy when he does turn up in person, his actions made all the more terrifying for his utter conviction in his righteousness in destroying the world to remake it in his own image. This one ends on something closer to a cliffhanger than the previous installment... and, unfortunately, the third volume doesn't seem to be out yet, and isn't due until spring of 2024. Dang it... That delay aside, I enjoyed this book every bit as much as the first one, even if it does spend a little too much time on the excretions of a baby dragon (a detour that younger readers will likely find more amusing, but for me felt like a plot point setup that was never quite followed through on, unless something comes of it in the next book).
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