A wonderful and magical adventure full of adventure, intrigue and so much action. I was fully invested right until the last page.

A good second instalment of this series which I imagine will be a trilogy.
I felt this book was more creepy than the first book in the series, and the setting descriptions of the new land were really atmospheric. It also packs quite the emotional punch!
We get to see more of the relationship between Ysolda and Nara, which I really enjoyed and the build-up to finding the ancient girl was well done - so much so that I did wonder how the story would continue when I realised what percentage through the book I’d read when she appeared on the page!
I would say the pacing is a little slow - there are parts that seem to drag, particularly in comparison to the first book. There are also characters that are introduced that don’t really seem to have a good reason to be there, except to facilitate the plot. I’m not sure how to explain it better, but they seemed very secondary.
This series certainly has its twists and turns and I can genuinely say I’ve no idea what’s likely to happen next. I think it’ll appeal to readers aged 9 and older, especially if they’ve read any of Millwood Hargrave’s other books.

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I thoroughly enjoyed the first book in this series and the second in the trilogy didn't diappoint. This is quite a literary novel in terms of style and language with a definite 'classic' feel and the author's world-building is immersive and deeply atmospheric.
In this novel, readers are allowed to spend time with a small cast of characters - mainly Ysolda - and the pace is more gentle than some other MG fantasy novels. Yet Hargrave has the ability to weave a spell with her storytelling, drawing you in with suspense and intrigue which keeps you turning the pages. There is a strong quest element - the journey through different landscapes, meeting various characters definitely has echoes of Tolkien, Pullman and 'the heroes journey' but Hargrave has also created something fresh - the concept of The Geomancer and time feels unique and I'm really interested in where this story goes next.
The gender representation in the novel is powerful - there's contrasting feminine leads in Ysolda and Eira (and even Nara the hawk), a strong female 'pirate', the formidable and complex Wolf Queen, who is akin to both The White Witch and Boudicca. Meanwhile men are not portrayed in the most favourable of lights - this is a complete paradox to Tolkien's world where women essentially play the supporting roles.
If readers are looking for a classic, well-told quest adventure with a plot interwoven with nature, power and mistrust, then this is definitely for them.

The ending in the last book drove me mad....because i knew I'd have to wait ages for this! It ended with Ysolda and Eira about to begin the journey alone to find the Anchorite.
This book follows their journey onwards with Ravi the Wolf as their steed. Sami the slave captured by Eira's mum, Seren The Wolf Queen, is also with them. They find it hard going, much of the land is barren and the rabbits Nara, Ysolda's hawk, catches are off - Ysolda make them all gloves with the skins though. They meet different people along the way - many Eira steals from to replenish their food. One such woman has a house which above the door has a sign in Ogham - Ysolda's language - it is the last house. Sten lives here with his mother who was saved from the cold years ago when she was a baby by a strange girl who came out of a snowstorm and knocked on their door - she warmed the baby with a touch. Her son Brun had listened to this story and tried to find her, he had never returned - she takes a like to Sami who refuses to leave her. Her other son, Sten, tells Eira and Ysolda the full story. This just increases their belief they are nearly there. But Sami has a gift - the gift of weather - and her hates Eira, so he calls a snowstorm. Eira pushes Ysolda from Ravi's back. Ysolda falls and only Nara's calls at Sten's house get help to her. Eira is nowhere to be seen and nor is Ravi.
Alone Ysolda persuades who knows more than he is letting on, to help her find the strange girl. But when they do he is so angry because they have found Brun's body on the way that he does something awful, because he thinks the Anchorite is hurting Ysolda. Ysolda is angry, but then an earthquake turns things upside down again. Sten escapes but Ysolda is buried by rock.....can Nara help again...

Utterly spellbinding, Amazing story, I can only assume KMH had the whole thing in her head as she wrote the first book because it is seamless. And again it ends on a cliffhanger!

I am so conflicted. I loved the 1st book. I mean LOVED it. However, this one wasnt as good, or as captivating and i found myself bored reading it. I feel bad saying that because i have every single one of Kirans books and i ordered the signed hardback before i even read this but i just felt, i dont know, disappointed?

It was an odd continuation, we lose main characters and Ysolda continues on her quest to find the Anchorite but when she does it was all just rather lacklustre to be honest. The Anchorite meeting was short, disappointing, and just didnt make much sense to me. We dont see or hear anything rom the Wolf Queen or Thane at all and i think thats where some of the magic went. They were interesting, good guys, vs bad guys. It also felt super short.

It felt, to me anyway, that we had an entire book just about Frodo, but without Sam and the fellowship Frodo is just boring and Ysolda is the same, she is just not interesting enough to carry this story on her own. The loss of the Wolf really upset me as well because it was barely mentioned and yet he was such a vital part of the story.

I also rolled my eyes at the boring inclusion of "climate change" i mean come on, its a fantasy book, set in a magical world with talking hawks and sea wolfs and we are expected to believe people are obsessed with climate change? Absolute snore.

I will still buy the 3rd book to complete my collection, and i hope that the final book of the trilogy goes back to what its supposed to be about and thats a fantasy book not a lecture.

Another amazing story by Kiran Millwood Hargrave. I hadn't read the first in this series, but had no problem picking up the storylines. This is a brilliant fantasy story for middle grade readers, and I can't wait for the next instalment. Thank you to Netgalley for my ARC copy (this has not affected my review).

Action-packed fantasy this second book in the Geomancer series is complex and beautifully written, the characters leap from the page.

An epic second installment on Kiran Millwood Hargrave's Geomancer trilogy!

Ysolda, Nara and her friends continue on their journey to find the Anchorite taking them to the far flung lands of Norveger. This change in setting gives room for new landscapes and more excellent scene setting by KMH.

The story had me gripped from beginning to end and it was definitely one of those books you miss once you've finished it! Can't believe I have to wait a year for the final book!

The second installment in Kiran Milwood Hargrave's Geomancer trilogy is a perfect example of what children's fantasy should be.

We pick up Ysolda's quest where it left off at the end if In The Shadow of the Wolf Queen as she continues to seek the Anchorite, an ancient girl who holds the answers to everything. We all know that picking up a continuing story in a sequel can be difficult for writers; there's a balance to be struck between maintaining momentum and helping the reader remember key details. I may not be the best to judge this particular aspect as I read book one right before reading this, but I felt like Milwood Hargrave struck that balance well enough to keep readers in the loop.
Milwood Hargrave's writing is full of depth and allows her readers to feel fully immersed in the landscapes her characters find themselves in. I do feel that while accessible to middle grade readers, the bigger questions and themes tackled by the author in this series will hit harder with readers in KS3. It's a bit of a trademark of Milwood Hargrave to raise questions of our impact on the environment, and the nuances surrounding good, evil and everything inbetween. She also embraces and reflects the multiculturalism of Britain, with ideas around racial bias being quite prevalent in this second Geomancer novel.

All of this makes for a fantasy series that shows how the genre can and should remain relevant. This series would make for an excellent teaching tool to tie together curriculum threads around colonialism, tyranny, immigration and conservation. As a school librarian I still get asked (far too much in my opinion) for Harry Potter books, and I'm always glad to find new series that I can suggest instead, and this is a far superior offering.

3.5

Thank you to NetGalley and Hachette Childrens for providing me an eARC to review!

I think this is a really good young fiction series that works in climate change without feeling preachy/hopeless. There's also interesting layers to the characters despite these books being relatively quick and easy reads!

Will be interested to see how everything wraps up in book 3!

Growing threats and new mysteries in a thrilling sequel

Ah, the 'difficult' middle book of a trilogy. It has to do many simultaneous things, from retaining and building on the energy of the first, to keeping up anticipation for the final volume, whilst being its own thing entire, complete (up to a point), with a proper beginning, middle and end. Now, as I hadn't read the first book, the challenge was to get me into a story that began with an entire novel's worth of backstory, a journey that had got the main characters to where they were. Forgive me if you're as in the dark as I am, but:

Ysolda, Eira and Sami cross the strait to escape from Eira's mother, the wolf queen and her army, still searching for the Anchorite. On the coast of a foreign country, will the three find what they are looking for, or will their enemies, old and new, find them before they can reach the Ancient Girl?

A rollicking fantasy adventure based on Celtic and Norse folklore and language, with Scandinavian and Indian traces too, this is a sequel that does its job beautifully, giving enough for a new reader to get drawn in whilst keeping up the wins and challenges of the first book. Ysolda is the main voice in this book, and her determination and grief drive the journey from landing in a hostile land to the eventual start of the next (and last) part of the quest. Ir also made me want to go back to the first book, which is a netter recommendation than any other I could make.

Four stars

Expertly told, Kiran Millwood Hargrave never fails to impress and engage. Full of adventure and peril this is a brilliant book for advanced readers who love to be transported to another world.

Review of the 2nd book in a trilogy where it picks up right from book 1, so spoilers for that but not this book

We join Ysolda, Eira and Sami as they continue their journey... after the firey finale in the first book they are continuing in an attempt to find the fabled Anchorite, and they have their wonderful animal companions to help them along their way - Nara the Hawk and Ravi the Wolf

The world they live in is becoming more and more perilous and they are running on faith for the most part... Will they be able to find the Geomancers magic before its too late...

I loved this story, the girls relationship is terse but they need each other. And the animal companions are just something special....Nara especially has my heart and if they don't get yours too by the end of the book, I'd be surprised

Out 30 August, you've still got time to get this one. Definitely packed with action and got a second book it definitely doesn't feel lacking... now just to wait for book three

Thanks to NetGalley and Orion/Hachette books for the review copy, all opinions my own

Enjoyed this book- another excellent one from the author. Was gripping and flowed beautifully. I think that there will be quite a few of my class who would enjoy this and am considering using the first of the series as a class novel this term. Looking forward to the next installment.

This series is building towards an almighty conclusion.

The novel is structured around a journey to find the anchorite, picking up where we left off in book one. And then, perhaps, towards a bigger destiny. I really enjoyed reading The Storm and the Seahhawk especially the last third, in which threads came together and a destination, of sorts, was reached.

Ysolda is travelling with Eira, her wolf, Ravi, and Sami towards the formidable Drakken Peaks. The journey is heavy with the tension of mistrust. Trust is difficult in these perilous times where existential threats are everywhere.

This is not a quest where they set off and reach their destination swiftly: there are many dangers on the road and much physical and mental adversity for the young protagonists. As such, there is a lot of focus in the interactions between characters.
It was interesting to watch the relationship between Eira, the wolf queen’s estranged daughter, and Ysolda develop. Their communication varies from sniping and repartee to loaded pauses and meaningful looks which show glimpses of understanding between the pair. Many other damaged and unpredictable characters join the story along the way adding to the tension, the lore and the uncertain future. Interestingly, in this novel, the wolf queen and Thane Boreal’s actions are all off stage: we never see them, we only hear rumours of their terrible deeds and have the set up for the mother of all reunions!

Like in the first book, where the idea of ‘better the devil you know’ surfaces around the wolf queen’s pursuit of power, this book raises the question of whether it’s inevitable that someone will abuse power. “…they can. So someone will.” Eira asserts, while discussing the urge to ‘channel all of the power in the world’ as the Geomancer is purported to do. There is also a prevailing undercurrent of suspicion around anyone’s true motive for finding the anchorite.

Lots here is allegorical. We see a world struggling with the breakdown of nature. We are shown how anyone can become a refugee especially when the place you live becomes uninhabitable.

This novel takes more reading stamina than many MG reads and as such, most of its readership will be in KS3 and above. Any young people who will read this will see brilliantly crafted prose. The author delights in the details and her language choices are superb. I was thinking how I would specifically like to show my Year 7s how the author so often picks THE perfect verb.

I’m really looking forward to the concluding part.

I was SO excited to get my hands on the second in Hargrave's Geomancer series and I passed everything else I was reading over in favour of it. Her beautiful, bold fantasy world sucks you in from the very start. There's a confidence about the pacing of this series that really deepens the character development. The book never drags but it feels as though she has space and time to really explore the characters and the changing, dangerous and wonderful world that they live in. This sense of expansiveness is clearly one that Hargrave enjoys and it makes for such a special, rich reading experience. Wonderful, rich fantasy adventure.

I was delighted to receive an Advance Reader Copy of this book, the second in the Geomancer Trilogy. To read the second book in a series ahead of its publication date feels like a real treat, and I was overjoyed this this lived up to all expectations (and surpassed them).

In this book, main character, Ysolda, travels to Norveger in her quest to find the mysterious Anchorite, whom she hopes will help to stop the strange, climate-change-like occurrences which are destroying the world. Travelling with companions Eira, Sami, Ravi the Sea Wolf and Nara the Sea Hawk, Ysolda encounters curious new characters along the way, learning new stories and folklore. She discovers ancient magic which brings her closer to Nara, and also learns that grief can affect different people in very different ways. Indeed, the theme of loss features heavily within this book, as with the first in the series, and I found it interesting to read how the characters perceived and adapted to their situations, how, for some it gives a sense of purpose, some live on in denial, and for others loss becomes all-consuming.

There is a beautiful, ethereal quality to Kiran’s writing usually, but this book hits a little differently. It feels as if there is more focus and direction in this book, which is reflected in Ysolda’s travels and growing sense of purpose. Here we have a character who has matured, and continues to grow in depth and likeability. Of course, that is not to say that this book isn’t also beautifully written – the prose absolutely dances and glitters across the page, resulting in an incredibly immersive and moving adventure.

I feel that like her main character, Kiran Millwood Hargrave’s writing has also matured and this is reflected in this exquisitely written novel. It finishes on a wonderfully intriguing and hopeful ending, so I can’t wait for the next book in the series.

Thank you to @netgalley, @hachettekids, and @teambkmrk for the ARC!

FINISHED: this is an incredible epic across lands, promises made, myths told and retold, friends made, families found. Ysolda is such a gorgeous main character and the love she shares with Nara is just so touching. There is so much I loved about this - can’t wait for the 3rd!

A fantastic fantasy adventure using Norse mythology as the foundation for a complex world full of legends and warring factions. Ysolda searches for a mythical girl, who, she hopes, will help save her sister. Joined by an escaped servant and the daughter of the Wolf Queen, they search for the impossible, listening to legends of a strange girl and travelling across dangerous lands. Thrown together, they are not easy companions and this friction enhances the sense of danger as war approaches.