Sword Summer
The wolf riders prepare for war.
As a summer of swords approaches, everything Astrid hoped for is coming true.
She's found her wolf. A war looms on the horizon—just what a young hero needs to make a name for herself. The path to becoming a warrior of legend is finally clear.
Until strange powers awaken in Astrid and her wolf, Maera.
Meanwhile, Queen Rosamund has made good on her promise of conquest since taking the throne. Thyrden's armies march for the Wolfmoors. Wielding forbidden magic, she's determined to succeed where her father could not. Nothing short of total victory will sate her ambition.
As both sides ready for battle, Astrid and her friends find themselves far from the conflict, chasing after myths in the wilderness with an eccentric old matriarch. Their journey is nowhere near the glorious future Astrid had in mind. But not all is at it seems, even in the wild north.
When tragedy strikes, Astrid risks everything to challenge Rosamund's dark magics. If Astrid and Maera hope to save the wolf riders, they'll have to trust in each other, and their newfound powers.
Not every fight is won with iron. And sometimes, fate has other plans in mind.
-Goodreads
Title: Sword Summer
Series: Wolf Song Saga #2
Author: Alan Siddoway, Katie Cross
Page Count: 259
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: 3.75/5.0
Date Read: January 17th, 2025
Opening
I read book one A Spring for Spears by Katie Cross and Derek Alan Siddoway as part of my personal SPFBO-9 reading list in 2023. I noticed that book two Sword of Summer was available on Audible recently and went ahead and picked it up to continue the series. I enjoyed the first book a bit more than this one. I'll try and get to the why without giving away too much but I honestly think I'm simply not the desired target audience for this book and perhaps this series.
Pacing
The pacing in Sword of Summer was smooth. I will point out again that I went with the audio version narrated by Katie Cross who really does a great job with her performance. The audio production quality and book writing are both very professionally done. I have no knocks on the quality of the story that was put together and presented.
World Building
The world building expanded in book two which is always a good thing. The different clan factions is always a bonus for me when experiencing fictional reads. It opens so many possibilities for characters or races with vastly different view points of the world. I wouldn't necessarily describe this world as low magic because it plays a fairly big part of the story. But I guess what I'd say it it's more of a mystical or shaman type of magic which is actually very refreshing from my usual wizard or sorcerer type.
Character Development
The character development is where book two started to lose me. Again, I can't stress enough that this is personal opinion. The characters aren't stale or lacking substance in anyway. I just didn't find myself connecting with any of them this time around. Even as much as I loved Astrid in book one I just felt like I was going through the motions and seeing this story and characters move past me. The only bright side that I loved was the aspect of characters learning they don't have to be pigeon-holed into a single type of person or warrior. Use all abilities you have access to!
Closing
I don't believe this series is finished but I don't know if I'll continue it. I think the target audience might be someone who is either younger than I or at least looking for a younger read. That is just my opinion. There is certainly a solid fantasy story with unique characters to be found within. Maybe someone looking for a bit more of a Young Adult Fantasy read would really connect with it!
Scoring
Pacing 4.0 / 5.0
Worldbuilding 4.0 / 5.0
Character Development 3.5 / 5.0
