The Deserter - Peadar Ó Guilín
I was immediately drawn to this story when I read the synopsis, but it took me sitting down with it in my hands to figure out why. THE DESERTER is the sequel to THE INFERIOR, which I reviewed on the blog in 2009. Apparently the series is called The Bone World Trilogy. Unfortunately, it is necessary for you to read THE INFERIOR before this one in order to understand what is going on in the story. There is hardly any backstory explained. This jumps right in where the last one left off (just a few months have passed).Stopmouth, the Chief of a ragtag group of “hunters” are struggling to survive on what they can hunt. So far, they have been able to kill enough of the other creatures on the Surface and they haven’t had to ask for a Volunteer from the Tribe in a while. His new tribe (a group exiled to the Surface from the Roof) still have a hard time eating the meat of animals, much less their own tribe members. Stopmouth is doing everything he can to make sure his tribe has enough to eat – even going so far as establishing an alliance with one of the other species.There are two things wrong in Stopmouth’s life. First, his wife, Indrani, has returned to the Roof where she lived before crashing to the Surface. She returned with the promise of bringing back the tools needed to kill the most feared of the species on the Surface. His other problem are the Diggers, the species Stopmouth and his tribe need help destroying. With reports that the Diggers have made it over the mountain, Stopmouth doesn’t have any choice but to go to the Roof and find Indrani himself. The lives of his tribe members depend on him bringing help back from the Roof.Stopmouth finds a world in chaos when he arrives on the Roof. In his attempt to find Indrani, he learns that she is on the run from her own people because of something she has stored in her memory. He goes to great lengths to reach her and feels nothing but relief when he finally has her in his arms again. Until…..Stopmouth must come to terms with a lot in this story. Survival is difficult. Stopmouth and Indrani constantly have to be on the look out for the dangers that surround them at every turn. He doesn’t even know if he’ll be able to save himself, much less his tribe on the Surface.THE DESERTER is filled with secrets, betrayals, and heart-pounding action. This is the perfect follow-up novel because we get to see the Roof this time where we only saw the Surface in THE INFERIOR.I love Stopmouth and Indrani just as much as I did in the first novel. Now, since I know this is called The Bone World Trilogy I know we’ll get a third book. I can’t wait.