This thrilling second installment is complex, expertly created and non-stop. And she feels it, yearns for normalcy but not for boredom, and no one is ever bored in Isabella's life. The reader gets a very realistic yearning from Isabella, while also appreciating her bravery, her distinct lifestyle that does not fit with her social/historical period. Unlike her, Isabella cannot see herself happily settled down, making meals, even having children. And where I was disappointed by not seeing an outsider's perspective of the type of life Escobar leads in the fist book, the second book more than makes up for it, and also cleverly contrasts the life Miss George could have by showing her side to side with her brother's wife.

Escobar merges fantasy, historical accuracy and time travel even more intricately in the second installment than the first. Miss George doesn't get a moment's relaxation, as her very being is an imagined threat to almost everyone she meets. Now that the stage and characters are set, Escobar lets loose a torrent of thrills, suspense, magical espionage and close calls. But Escobar brings it in Dark Rift as much as she did in The Tower's Alchemist, if not more so. With series books, I'm not always as impressed with sequels as with the opening book, never really. She sets out to lift the severe decree of the Gray Tower, and prove to the Master Wizards that the Drifter is the only way to win the war.Īs Isabella unmasks traitors and embraces unlikely allies, her greatest danger may lie in her own heart-from the brutal desire for revenge, to the crushing guilt she carries.and the dangerous passion she tries to deny when she's with one man in particular.Īs she attempts to sort things out both in her heart and head-and not mix up the two, a figure from her past comes along and makes an enticing offer to solve all her problems. Instead of executing the Drifter, she protects the Time Wizard at all costs and ensures that the power to control Time never falls into the wrong hands.

Isabella George, an alchemist trained by the Tower, knows the identity of the Drifter and refuses to go through with it, because it hits too close to home. The Gray Tower, in its quest to stabilize a world that hangs on a delicate balance, has issued an order: Kill the Drifter. The world already suffers a bitter taste of hell on earth, in a World War II where Nazi warlocks battle with Gray Tower wizards in the streets of Europe and in the shadows.

Dark Rift by Alesha Escobar