The Mist Children by E C Hibbs

 

Today I’ll be reviewing for you The Mist Children the second novel in E C Hibbs Foxfires Trilogy, if you’ve missed my review of the first novel you can catch that on the post before this one.

Following directly on from the previous book this one catches up with Tuomas and Elin after Tuomas has successfully passed his mage test and is starting to come into his power more and more. Their return is timed rather fortuitously as a sickness has began sweeping the three villages, we were introduced to in the first novel. Unlike a traditional cold or flu it is targeting only the young and healthy puzzling all the mages and their traditional healing remedies are not helping much.

Once again Tuomas must set out on a quest, this time to find Lilja who was able to help him on his previous mission. He discovers that she and several others are holding a dark secret which is deeply tied into the mystery of the new illness sweeping through their communities and feels that it is up to him to try and resolve it, going against everyone else’s instincts.

As with the first novel the stunning visuals continue and Tuomas is as hot headed and stubborn as ever, despite his character growth he has remained true to who he was when we were first introduced to him and that is something I really admire.  He has a bit of a difficult time with the other villagers being more wary of him now he is a powerful mage and he goes through many strong emotions on his journey but by the end of the novel he seems to have a clear purpose and an idea of what he should do next.

There are some darker themes compared to the previous book but nothing too heavy, definitely still suited for YA readers and it is very fitting only helping to add to the seriousness of the story and highlighting the urgency of Tuomas’ mission.

An issue I often find with trilogies is that the middle book doesn’t really pull its weight but I didn’t find that with this novel. There’s so much action and content stuffed into it I can’t wait to see what is in store in the next one.

Picture credit to E C Hibbs, I've been having some technical difficulties so it's not one of my own and it was so lovely I just had to use it.