Promises to Keep by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes

Mostly Spoiler-Free Reread Review

So, Promises to Keep is essentially where the Den of Shadows/Nyeusigrube series ends. It doesn't precisely feel like an ending, nor really a beginning... which will make more sense if you read it to the end. There ends up being a lot going on that both is and isn't properly explained. That's not a bad thing, but... does feel sort of rushed.

Promises to Keep combines all the elements from the stories that came before and the characters. It gives Token of Darkness an actual reason for being (which I had forgotten on my last reread) as, it turns out, Promises to Keep deals rather heavily in the Elementals that were more properly introduced in Token of Darkness. I was highly interested in the inner-workings of the Nyeusigrube magic system and Promises to Keep managed to explain it better than any of the other books. The power scaling from Token of Darkness's Samantha to what Jay deals with in Promises to Keep is all the more impressive considering Samantha was just a weak Elemental and nearly killed a girl.

I also quite enjoyed Jay as a character. He was a bright spot in All Just Glass and is definitely more fleshed out here. He's a relatively light, fun character, as Nyeusigrube characters go. Just what this story needed. His relationship with Brina was very interesting. I like them as a pair.

I do confess that I had a fondness for Xeke and Rikai from well before I read them in these pages. Amelia Atwater-Rhodes' website in the early 2000's had some message boards in which she would essentially roleplay her characters with users. It was good fun and endeared me to Xeke and Rikai. It was definitely fun to finally see them in the pages of Nyeusigrube proper.

I am largely satisfied with the ending... or multiple endings. We get to check in on a few of the more prominent Nyeusigrube denizens, see how they're doing post-Elemental shenanigans. I won't spoil any of that. It really did feel like a good send off (or just a stopping point) for the world and its characters.

2014 Review

Favorite Lines

"Do not disturb except in case of unexplained life-threatening injuries. It would suck if the healers let him die because her left a badly worded note." - Jay Marinitch Narration

"You live comfortably in one of the wealthiest nations in the world," Brina said, voice clipped. "You live on the bones of your own ancestors, who were eradicated by the expanding white populations. The food you eat, the clothes you wear, the toys you buy are often made across the oceans by nameless, faceless workers living in conditions you would find intolerable." - Brina di'Birgetta

"Cat pee never lies." - Xeke