The Guilt of the Innocent: Book II of The Kinmark Saga
By Josh Brannan
This is the second book in a series I’ve come to enjoy. I remember how much I liked the adventure and spectacular writing from the first book so I was definitely looking forward to reading this second book. Thankfully, it did not disappoint.
The first book in the Kinmark Saga surprised me a little bit. It was refreshing and epic and completely original. The best part of the book was the struggle with the brothers as they grew and developed throughout the story’s progression. Not much, in that aspect, changed between the first book and the second. We still have those spoiled brothers and their great adventures but things get taken to a new level in The Guilt of the Innocent.
The idea of the Tytan families is really cool to me but I what I found even cooler was the ties and the bonds within the families. Being a Tytan is an honor and that is emphasized in this series, its actually one of the main focal points in the first book. The Last Kinmark definitely centered on the families and their duties and responsibilities but this second book kind of went behind the scenes and took a closer look at just how things really work in this fantastic world built by Brannan.
My review of the first book praised Brannan’s writing and world building but this time I’m going to pay my respects to the characterization. While the world-building and the writing was definitely top-notch, the characterization and development was awesome. We take a closer look at returning characters in Book II and are introduced to a few new faces who prove to be more than some simple passer-by characters.
It’s always difficult for me to welcome new characters in a series, especially one as focused and tight-knit as this, but Brannan is careful in his introduction which I appreciated very much. I didn’t get a huge dump of ten more characters with no backstory. That may have been because of the author’s great flow in the story but I appreciated it nonetheless. In a story that twists and turns as much as this one, I think the flow and the structure of Book II is one that deserves many compliments.
If you enjoy adventure, strong character bonds, and great action then this book series is definitely one that will interest you. You should probably grab the first book instead of jumping in the middle but this series isn’t overly complicated, I think anyone could pick up the story well enough if they started off with Book II. Overall, this is a great series worth a read. I would recommend it to audiences of all ages.
*I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*