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Title: Pirates of the Relentless DesertAuthor: Jay Amory
Genre: Fantasy, YA
Rating: 4/5
# pages: 396
Date read: April, 2009
Summary: The Groundlings are under attack. Approaching in darkness in huge airships, Airborn pirates are raiding refineries and pillaging Groundling factories - taking by force the supplies which used to be offered as a tribute to the winged 'gods'. And the Groundlings are getting ready to defend themselves.
Above the clouds, Mr Mordadson is dispatched to Redspire, the heart of the piracy, to solve the problems however necessary and put an end to the piracy ...and taking the armed Airship Cerulean - with Az Gabrielson as Captain - with him. But even on the ship there is unrest. Flight Lieutenant Wallimson hates Az, and plots to do whatever he can to undermine the wingless boy.
On the ground, unrest at Redspire is the last thing on Cassie's mind. The family business has been destroyed by contact with the Airborn, and they scrape a precarious living taking Airborn tourists on tours. But as trouble is stirred up between the Groundlings and Airborn things go from bad to worse for Cassie. And then her father goes missing...
Review: I think it's probably because I was ill while reading the first book in the series, and therefore a bit out of it, but I actually thought this was quite a bit better. There was more action, and I found it a lot more difficult to put it down (but the last part is probably especially due to being ill).
I have to admit though, I found Az' story line a LOT more captivating that that of the Grubdollars. They just didn't interest me all that much. Thankfully the focus kept switching back and forth between the plot lines, so I never got bored with either one, but up until they met, it was clear which one of them I preferred.
The one disadvantage of Book Two as compared to Book One is that it's clearly not meant to stand on its own. Whereas Book One was completely self-contained, Book Two obviously makes way for a sequel and leaves a number of threads hanging to be picked up there. Thankfully none that left the book un-concluded (my biggest pet peeve in series), but enough that I wish the third book was actually available.
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