What can I say? This book is another wonderful piece by Mr. Wheeler. I absolutely loved the continued character depth. On a side note, he has some of the best character development of any I have read especially considering the length of his books. This continues the amazing story of this series and fits perfectly with the other outstanding books in the series. The main 2 characters still pull at your heart and you feel what they feel and worry about what they worry about. Great book.

Prism Cloud by Jeff Wheeler is #4 in The Harbinger series and continues the adventures of Cettie and Sera as war once again breaks out between Kingfountain and Muirwood. There is a bit of role reversal as Sera becomes more confident in her abilities and Cettie allows herself to become caught up in the schemes of the mother she never knew. While Sera's transformation seemed logical, Cettie's switch of loyalties didn't ring true for me. Will see how this twist develops in the next installment.

I'm liking Sera's adventures much better than Cettie's at this point.

Read in December; review scheduled ---

NetGalley/47 North
Fantasy. March 5, 2019. Print length: 332 pages.

Full Disclosure: I have not read any of Jeff Wheeler’s books before. Not Muirwood, not the Queen’s Poisoner, not even Storm Glass or any of the subsequent books in the Harbinger series.

So why did I read this?

Well, I’d been interested in Jeff Wheeler for quite some time. I even bought The Queen’s Poisoner two years ago. But Prism Cloud was available for review and I decided to experiment.

Sometimes readers pick up a book in a series out of order. They might start with Book 2 instead of Book 1. Well I wanted to see how well author’s were at telling a story on its own, outside of the context of the rest of the books in a series.

My question were: Could Prism Cloud stand alone? And did the author give sufficient enough information to fill in the gaps for anyone who was just coming on board?

I’m happy to report that it’s a yes on both accounts.

Of course, there were a lot of things that I missed, like 3 books worth of back story, and three whole series of worldbuilding before that.

But for the most part I picked everything up pretty quickly.

My review of Prism Cloud will mostly be from the perspective of an outsider, and thus I’ve canned my usual format in favor of a more casual approach.

We start off our story with Cettie, an unusual character for a hero if I do say so myself. The beginning of her storyline was rather promising. There was some mystery, some action, an enemy that she only could assist with removing.

However, that enemy, the Fear Liath (which seemed to have plagued our character in the past) comes and goes from the story in a flash and seemingly has no purpose whatsoever in the remainder of the story. Perhaps all will be made known in the next book, but it doesn’t seem like it.

After that Cettie became rather boring in my opinion. Oh, I was still interested enough to not completely skip her chapters, but I definitely read through them quite a bit faster than the other POV, Sera.

I loved Sera.

Sera’s everything you want in a hero. She’s strong, she’s cunning, she’s daring, she’s smart, and there’s a bit of a romance plot around her.

Sera has to make a lot of tough decisions, and in the end its her who makes all the difference while Cettie is off being relatively useless.

That is not to say that Cettie is not important.

In fact, I can easily see where the author is going for Book 5, and Cettie will be very, very important there. In fact, I would venture to say she might be single most crucial character for the end game of this series. That’s just speculation, I can’t say for certain.

But she has absolutely nothing to do with the plot and conflict in this book despite 50% of the book being dedicated to her POV.

Let’s talk about this conflict.

I can’t say a whole lot without giving away spoilers considering I have no idea how much you already knew having read the previous 3 books. But I will say that deceptions, devious plots years in the making, and heartache are in store for just about every page throughout this journey.

Just when you think the last “wow” moment has been pulled, Wheeler breaks out another. Down to the very last page.

Certainly the last half of the book is far more entertaining than the first. The action ramps it up 10-fold at about the 45-48% mark, and it doesn’t let up.

It’s only unfortunate that it took so long to get there.

All in all, Prism Cloud is a sweeping epic filled with engaging political intrigue and genius plots that are sure to keep anyone burning the midnight oil.

Long-time fans of Wheeler will be deliciously rewarded in this book as some old characters from previous series make cameo appearances. Though their significance is somewhat lost on me, those in the know are sure to be delighted.

4/5 Stars

I absolutely love this series, but Jeff Wheeler really crushed my heart this go around. I'm so worried for Cettie and that ending and epilogue is absolutely devastating. I still recommend these books to any fantasy lover, but be prepared for everything, because anything can happen.

I was given an AR copy provided by NetGalley.

I first stumbled upon the Harbringer series thanks to Kindle Unlimited by Amazon and instantly fell in love.

Floating estates in the sky? Check!

Magic that can be harnessed through amulets? Check!

Traveling through multiple worlds? Check!

Prism Cloud is the fourth installment (Storm Glass, Mirror Gate, Iron Garland) in the series and will definitely not be the last.

If you’ve read the previous books then you will continue to be thrilled by the world that Jeff Wheeler has built which follows heroines Cettie and Sera. In this installment we still see the girls harness their understanding of the Knowing and make sacrifices for the people they love. There are times in the book when it feels like too many storylines and plot twists are happening, especially in the beginning– though to be fair, some of them have been hinted at in previous books and it isn’t a surprise that our characters now learn of them.

I was slightly irritated (in a good way?) with the fact that Cettie continued to trust people whom we, as the reader, know to be untrusting and put her faith in people who are definitely not working in her best interests. Cettie has long searched for answers to her family history since she was abandoned as a child in the Fells. When she learns of the identity of her mother she immediately leaves the family that had raised her since childhood without a backward glance.

She’s always trusted the Knowing, and that trust had served her well in the past.

I understood the reason for this as part of the plotline however it felt slightly uncharacteristic of her as her devotion has always been to Fog Willows and the Fitzroy family. But, I guess growth is good.

Meanwhile, it has been 18 months since the last book when Sera made the agreement to spend three months each year living in Kingfountain while Prince Trevon does the same in Muirwood. We now see that their romance has blossomed and they are beginning to take steps toward marriage. But talk about character growth for Sera Fitzempress! She embodies the role of a regal woman who puts her country above her own feelings.

When the emperor is killed, she steps into the role and proves she is capable of ruling her people on the brink of war. She is no longer the wild and rambunctious girl who had unrealistic ideas about being empress. Her thoughts are well formed and her decisions are made with foresight in mind. It felt natural for her character to behave in such a way and for her to put her trust in specific people.

By the end of the book I was feeling a mix of emotions (thanks in part to the death of beloved characters) and already await the next installment. This series is well thought out and each book builds upon the next without seeming rushed or like it should be finished (and the author is just continuing to add problems in order to write another book). There are still enough questions left to be answered in additional books and mysteries that have to be solved to keep me reading this series.
I highly recommend reading these novels if you are interested in YA fantasy.

Each decision, each action, carried so much weight, rippled into the vast eternity of outcomes.
Be kind.
Be courageous.
Be gentle.







Review posted on Goodreads