Medicine for the Dead by Arianne “Tex” Thompson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I hesitated to pick this book up because I struggled so much with the cultural and language references in the first. That was a huge mistake–I enjoyed Medicine For The Dead much much more.
For one thing, all the characters have been introduced, but now there are fewer people so there is plenty more time to settle in and really get to know folks, and this is where Tex shines. Through moments and peeks and confusion, she highlights the differences between cultures, people, and expectations, the narrative only clear to the reader but hopelessly tangled for the characters themselves.
It’s a traveling book, but it is also a book where we finally get the magical payoffs that were only hinted at in book 1. Here is a melange of powers, and each incites a different reaction.
More than anything, though, I was struck by the way things just. kept. getting. worse. Just as I found myself feeling like ok, they’re going to make it, Thompson would come out with another shocker. You certainly can’t get too at ease in this tale.
M.E. Kinkade 