Wolf Star: The Claidi Journals II (Claidi Journals, 2)

I do like series. I do reread them. I enjoy the characters. I wonder sometimes in post apocalyptic styles how certain societies ever develop or maintain themselves, yet it is just like now. Societies even in modern days are something to look at and evaluate. What is accepted and not accepted is not always sensible to others.

After the first book, this continuation to the story is interesting. This book is for anyone who enjoys a heroine that takes matters into her own hands and is not afraid to tell it how it is.

Packaging could have been better, but overall great product.

This second book in the Claidi Journals was a bit of a let down for me. Delving right into this after completing Wolf Tower, the first book in the series, I was looking forward to new adventures with Claidi which would teach me about new cultures and ideas in her world. Instead I was forced to go with Claidi to this strange palace with moving rooms where very little happened beyond Claidi whining and making me start to dislike her. The unfortunate thing here is that the palace itself was actually pretty cool; the author just didn't use it well. Claidi could have had so many interesting adventures in that house, getting lost and stumbling onto truly interesting places, instead of dingy kitchens with big flying rats . . . I'm sorry but that just isn't as imaginative as I might like in a fantasy book. I wanted Claidi to use her brain and observational skills to figure out a pattern to the movements of the rooms, or develop some clever strategy to keep herself from getting lost, or really I wanted Claidi to do ANYTHING. Instead she let herself be led from one place to another meekly while she felt sorry for herself. She says at the beginning of the book that she doesn't want to stay at the palace, but she never really makes any escape attempts. One time she accidentally stumbles onto a way out, but she gets scared when there are large predatory animals in the jungle and she gives up. The biggest movement and action in the story, on a quest to navigate the rooms and find answers in the Library, is driven forward by Venn, not Claidi. In fact Claidi has very little interest in this effort at all.Claidi also angered me because she seems to start questioning her feelings and devotion to Argul. We didn't get to see very much development in that relationship during the first book, which was fine with me. I didn't expect to see too much development because it WAS the first book. But it felt strange to me that they would be getting married right at the beginning of the book, and then horribly disloyal when Claidi gives up on getting back to Argul right at the beginning of the book. She left him once in the first book to try to be a loyal person to Nemian. To have her give up Argul again in the second book completely undermines that relationship.Anyway, I read this book because I still believe the Claidi Journals are worth reading, but this book was a weak part for me, and I'm hoping Claidi redeems herself in the next one.

"The Wolf Star" (also published as "Wolf Star Rising") is the second of four books known as the Claidi journals, stories told in the format of a diary by the young escaped-slave Claidi and her travels throughout a fantasy world in search of her origins and a home of her own. In the first installment "The Wolf Tower", which you really must read if you want to understand what's going on in this story, Claidi escaped the confines of the House with the handsome Nemian, only to find that his intentions for her were less than honourable. Taking her to his dismal city and the matriarch Ironel, Claidi found that the inexorable Law of the Wolf Tower made her the new distributor of the cruel and unnecessary rules that governed the land.Destroying the mechanisms that put the Law in place, Claidi made her escape with the handsome bandit-leader Argul - her betrothed. At the beginning of this new part of her diary, Claidi is immensely excited about her approaching wedding to the man she loves, and her acceptance into the extended family of the Hulta. But as she prepares on the wedding day, a catastrophe occurs - she is kidnapped by men of the Wolf Tower in a great balloon, and taken across the sea to a strange place known as the Rise. With only clockwork figurines for company, Claidi desperately searches for a way to escape the confusing and dangerous moving rooms of the Rise, a huge palace and garden carved into the side of a great cliff.Soon she discovers that she's not alone - the Rise is the home of the elusive and confusing Prince Venarion (or Venn for short), who is just as bewildered at Claidi's presence in his home as she is. Abandoned by his mother Ustareth at a young age, Claidi suspects that somehow she is connected to the events that are now unfolding: the hidden designs of the House and the someone who has plans for them both without either of them knowing, someone who mysteriously signs their letters as "we", and who has a secret agenda going on. Wanting only to uncover the mystery of the higher interest in her, and to return to her beloved Argul, Claidi talks Venn into undertaking a trek deep into the Rise to find the library - the one place where they might both find the answers they're looking for.Unfortunately in continuing the story, Tanith Lee raises more questions than answers, and many of her ideas come across as confused and contradicting. She possibly has a master-plan in mind for the completion of the story and the unfolding of the mystery, but she is unravelling it in a very muddled way - it's almost as if she's making it up as she goes along and later figuring out how all the clues fit together, rather than the other way around. Despite this however, the characters, the story and the mystery of Claidi's role in the world is interesting enough to keep one reading.There are also complaints concerning the setting of the book - "The Wolf Tower" was a journey that took place over a large area, whilst here Claidi is stuck almost entirely within a single house. Granted, it is an exceptionally fascinating house, with moving rooms and clockwork servants, but much of the appeal of the first book was the scale and freedom of Claidi's travels. Here, that is gone.But "The Wolf Star" is a good follow-up to the previous book, and most will be interested enough in picking up the next one "Wolf Queen," even though I am always frustrated at writers/publishers that split books into more than one volume needlessly. Claidi's journal is one big story - it should be presented as one large volume, not lots of little ones. There are overviews of the previous book at the start of each new installment, but I'd recommend reading them in order.

Wow! I don't regret my month's wait of getting this book! I thought the first journal was outstanding, however, this journal blew me away! Such adventure!!!! When I read about the places Claidi went, it was as if I was there. If you read this book you will get into it so quickly that you won't want to finish! The book also makes you want more when you finish, but that's a whole other review! If you aren't a big romantic and love adventure, you would like this book. However, if you love reading about two loved ones who have to be apart from one another this is the book for you as well! Lee, the author made such a brilliant character that I fell in love with the moment I read the first book! Her wit just makes me laugh and wish I could be more like her This journal relates back to the first one so if you haven't read Claidi's first journal you must rush out to a bookstore and get the copy as well as this one! The whole collection of journals are outstanding! Enjoy reading!