Secret of the Thistle
There's nothing more dangerous than a paranoid king.
Wickerton is in peril. Obsessed with the idea of an attack coming from the Bright Crown of Northumbria, the Unholy King keeps raising taxes to pay for an ever-expanding army. But such an attack will never come. With taxes on the rise, and no money to pay the collector, Fay must find a small fortune within a month or Wickerton’s canvas shelter will be torn down as punishment.
While Galahad languishes in the dark of New London, a bloody letter arrives from the Elaine is in trouble. Despite everything that's happened between them, Galahad can't help but to rush to her aid. Now he must travel to the origin of the magic that stained his eyes the colour of whisky, and try to save the woman he both hates and loves.
Each must do their best to slay new monsters, face old enemies, and reforge broken relationships.
It's time to fight for the things that matter.
-Goodreads
Title: Secret of the Thistle
Series: Rainfallen #2
Author: Benjamin Aeveryn
Page Count: 437
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: 4.75/5.0
Date Read: January 29th, 2025
Opening
My first read from Benjamin Aeveryn was Salt in the Wound back in June of 2023. I believe this one hit my radar as an entry in the current SPFBO at that time. I had a lot of fun with the story in general. As someone who grew up reading Arthurian stories, I loved the background of that in book one. Later that year I read the novella Blackcap about a sleuth within the same world.
As much as I enjoyed both reads, I went all of 2024 without returning to the series simply due to an overwhelming amount of books I want to read. I did however read the novella introducing his newest series which book one is due out early in 2025 which got Secret of the Thistle back on my radar. I finally dusted this one off and dove in head first in January
Pacing
The pacing in Secrets of the Thistle is simply spot on for my tastes. The best way I can describe the flow of this read was all the elements of a slow burn epic without feeling any slog whatsoever. This truly was a page turner for me. I started reading it briefly on a Friday night, yes my life if that boring, and wrapped it up the following Wednesday. Not even a whole week to get through this one. I had no trouble keeping up with the multiple storylines going through most of the book before things come together near the end. Also no issues with names of characters or places.
World Building
The world building was great! We add so much more depth to this world in book two. The characters uncover a considerable amount of history on how things have gotten to where they are and even some glimpse into why. There is plenty to be found in this world as it relates to different religions, magic, caste, factions and regions. There wasn't nearly as much political intrigue and espionage compared to a lot of my more recent reads and honestly that was a break I didn't realize I needed until reading this one. There is still some political aspects which fit very well into the story though.
Character Development
The character development was no less impressive in book two. I don't know if I'd consider all of it growth which usually means in the positive but there is plenty of change with so many characters throughout this read. I don't know if there is a single character that doesn't face some kind of struggle or tragedy in this read. Even though this sets a dark cloud over the story, I never felt like things were without hope.
Galahad, Elaine and Fay continue to be very complex characters which only adds so much depth to each of them. We also see some different sides to both Errol and Bill this time around as well. I don't want to give too much more without spoiling this read for anyone but there are some really interesting characters introduced here which I really hope we haven't seen the last of but only time will tell.
Closing
To summarize, I am beating myself up a bit on waiting this long to return to this series. So much so that I'm doing something I don't do very often and that is going right into the next book A Cask-Aged Blade which is the finale to the Rainfallen series. I'm going to enjoy this one and get ready to pick up book one of the Venomborn series as soon as it's available (March 1st, 2025). In fact this one is already pre-ordered so it will hit my Kindle once released!
If you're looking for a fantasy read that combines equal parts of whimsical, darkness and plenty of banter with it's characters. This should be right up your alley!
Scoring
Pacing 5.0 / 5.0
Worldbuilding 4.75 / 5.0
Character Development 4.75 / 5.0
