The Runelords Series #3 by David Farland

From Goodreads:

Wizardborn continues the story of the struggle of Gaborn, now the Earth King, who has lost his powers but continues to lead his people. He must contend with the threat of the huge, inhuman Reavers, whose myriads Gaborn and his forces must now pursue across the nation. It has become Gaborn’s fate to follow, even into the depths.

Raj Ahten, the great warlord endowed with the strength and qualities of thousands of men, once the primary threat to Gaborn, now struggles to retain his own empire. His war of conquest thwarted, his very life is now threatened by the Reaver thousands.

And a young girl, Averan, who has eaten a Reaver and absorbed some of its memories, becomes a keystone in the search for the dark Reaver lair.

My Rating: 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟

I started reading this series looking for a traditional fantasy story that I hadn’t discovered before. Book 1 was OK but a bit difficult to read. Book 2 was much better and this book has continued in the same vein.

Some of the concepts behind the story are very unusual especially the type of magic that is the central theme and the main protagonists called “reavers” that remind me so much of “walkers” from “The Walking Dead“. I was pleased to see characters like Spring and Myrrima continued in this book, even though they aren’t developed much further. The main theme of this book is to develop the character of Averan who looks set to become a central character. There are some interesting teasers about the role she will play later in the story that may be less ordinary than expected. I guess eating reaver brains isn’t enough!

As a 3rd book in a series it’s inevitable that much of the story is consumed with setting up the rest of the series but despite that this is a good read, although it did take the story a while to get going and even then did bog down in battles a bit.

Another book with strong female characters and considering the genre and age of the book that makes it quite unusual.