Fabulous reads – Take a welcome step back into Yenara

The Fifth Ward: Friendly Fire, Dale Lucas, Jonathan Ball Publishers, ISBN: 9780356509389

THE unlikely Wardwatch duo, Rem and Torval, are back in the latest foray into the colourful world of Yenara.

While I enjoyed the first book, the second novel in the series ascended to another level of greatness as Lucas didn’t shy away from introducing a few real world problems into his fictional one.

Racism rears its ugly head in the multicultural city as the humans and the dwarves clash over a building contract.

As tension reaches boiling point, the Wardwatch are tasked to step in and investigate the seemingly random attacks on both sides. I found that Lucas approached and handled the topic with great care and finesse.

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I also found it highly unusual to be so intrigued while reading a novel where the author played with his hands revealed. Almost off the bat you know who the villains are. You know who to root for and, with the mystery element gone, my interest would usually wane. It didn’t.

His protagonists are so wonderfully pieced together, so rich with emotion and backstory, that you simply can’t just set the novel aside.

While there is the main story arch to follow, Rem (a human) and Torval (a dwarf) each have their own demons to face along the dark and twisted tale. And dark it is. Lucas is unforgiving in his writing and nothing is off bounds. The action scenes are intense, nail-biting affairs that are equally as gruesome.

I simply cannot wait to see what the talented writer has in store for his characters in the third book, Good Company.

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