The second novel of the Lifesong series and oh my god it was awesome, far exceeding the first in almost every aspect. This time the story begins in Eyri, following the epic battle that was the climax to Riddler’s Gift, with Tabitha using her powers to heal those who have been injured and in doing so the people of Eyri have elevated her to a god-like stature, practically worshipping the ground she walks on and piling more and more pressure on her to heal and save everyone. In comparison to this Glavenor is no longer the man and soldier he once was and he now spends his time hiding as one of Tabitha’s assistants. While life in Eryi tries to rebuild itself, the Chaos that rules Oldenworld grows and spreads and the power of He Who Shall Not Be Named continues to grow while the Gyre try and recover themselves from their earlier battle. However there is a traitor in their midst’s who convinces the young (and very naïve and arrogant) Prince Bevn to steal his father’s crown, leave Eryi and make an alliance with the Sorcerer. In doing so he condemns his father to madness and pulls Tabitha into Oldenworld on the hunt for the Kingsrim. And so begins the epic adventure that takes Tabitha into the midst of Chaos where she has to save not only herself, her friends, Eyri and Oldenworld but also Ethea, the Goddess of Life and of the Lifesong, the source of Tabitha’s power. This book continues the promise of the epic fantasy laid down by Riddler’s Gift and follows the story with all the dry wit, humour, tenderness, magic, mystery and mayhem (actually there’s a hell of a lot more mayhem in this one, unsurprisingly considering where they’re travelling through) found in the first tale. Once again Hamerton’s writing pulls you deep into the story so you feel everything as they experience it, every victory and defeat, every moment of honesty and kindness, treachery and deceit, love and hate and most of all every moment of battle between Order and Chaos and of course the power of the Lifesong. Hamerton has definitely created a world and story to rival Tolkien’s LOTR (although this will always be the original and the best of the fantasy world) in all aspects of story-telling, character creation, other world creation and sheer epic-ness (not a real word, I know, nothing else would do). The only question left is...when oh when is the third instalment, so subtly alluded to by Twardy, going to be out?