ON WINGS OF EVIL

Despite much rushing back and forth, and frequent references to previous events, this ineffectual middle volume neither stands alone nor much advances the tale begun in On Wings of a Dragon (2002). In rapid-fire alternating mini-chapters, angel-winged Kour’el and her revered dragon Api’Naga investigate reports of evil doings, while in the far-off Blue Mountains newly minted Queen Galea discovers that royal baddies supposedly killed or exiled have come back, with a powerful magical ally. The parallel plots eventually join. Replete with hidden rooms, mythological creatures, cliffhangers, chases, escapes and rescues, this moves along smartly, but, saving an anticlimactic revelation about one’s ancestry, the main characters are pretty much left where they began—facing a still-shadowy adversary. Readers who found the opener promising will struggle through, in hopes of a better closer. (Fantasy. 11-13)