A New York Times Bestseller! A year has passed since the Tournament. Fletcher and Ignatius have been locked away in Pelt’s dungeons, but now they must face trial at the hands of the Inquisition, a powerful institution controlled by those who would delight in Fletcher’s downfall. The trial is haunted by ghosts from the past with shocking revelations about Fletcher’s origins, but he has little time … origins, but he has little time to dwell on them; the graduating students of Vocans are to be sent deep into the orc jungles to complete a dangerous mission for the king and his council. If they fail, the orcish armies will rise to power beyond anything the Empire has ever seen.
With loyal friends Othello and Sylva by his side, Fletcher must battle his way to the heart of Orcdom and save Hominum from destruction . . . or die trying, in this sequel to The Novice by Taran Matharu.
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One of the best books there is in my opinion
It’s a good plot and good fictional story
Have read over 5 times still ain’t tired of it
The Inquisition picks up a year after the previous story’s end, finding Fletcher in jail, where he’s been the entire year. Some life-changing events are tied up in the trial, and before we know it, Fletcher is being sent to the jungles to help lead a covert mission of rescue and destroy (not necessarily in that order). Fletcher has to work with his friends and enemies, and keep his wits about him when things aren’t what they seem.
I enjoyed this book at least as much as the first book. Fletcher’s abilities were established, and in fact had grown between books. Old friendships and rivalries came back into play, as well as some new characters to love. The race & class warfare are still there, and in the case of race warfare, even more so.
I wasn’t super excited about the beginning of the book, knowing that Fletcher would be in jail, and that the people with all the power would make it very difficult for him to prove himself innocent. They did that and then some. Of course, I knew he’d either be exonerated or escape, because otherwise, there’d be no rest of the book. And with the end of his prison time came a big turn-around for his life.
The rest of the book, which was preparation for and executing of the covert mission into orc territory, was interesting and, at times, exciting. A few things happened that led me to notice that Fletcher, in both books, has a tendency to fall into a trope where good things happen to him simply because he’s a nice guy. Learning important information, chance encounters, unlikely allies, things like that. I am not trying to say this is a bad trope–it never bothered me when it happened, but it was a trend I noticed.
After I finished the book, I realized there were a couple of elements that seemed to be left as loose ends. I can’t say much more without spoiling them, but they didn’t seem to be the kind of thing where I’d expect to see them resolved in the next book. It seemed more like the author forgot about them. Maybe they’ll show up again in the future though, who knows.
There were a few things that happened near the end that are a twist of some kind. One of them I figured out early. One I kept speculating on, and turned out to be wrong. And one, the way the book ends, in fact, I did not see coming at all. Unlike the “cliffhang” from book 1 to book 2, I’m very excited to see how book 3 picks up from where this one left off.
Better than the 1st, a must read
It felt like it took longer than it should have to get to a point of being a “page-turner,” but overall, the book was well done. I feel as though The Inquisition is more so a filler book between book one and three. But the last ten chapters definitely made reading the entire book worthwhile.