| $@%&! level: None “Bedroom” level: None Violence level: Medium-Low Back Cover: “Razo has never been anything but ordinary. He's not very fast or tall or strong, so when he's invited to join an elite mission escorting the ambassador into Tira, Bayern's great enemy, he's sure it's only out of pity. But as Razo finds potential allies among the Tiran, including the beautiful Lady Dasha, he realizes it may be up to him to stop a murderer and get the Bayern army safely home again.” |
It's not exactly a mirror copy of the first book, but it does have a lot of the same elements. You've got the young person who feels generally useless, gets transplanted to a foreign country, and learns to recognize and use his own strengths rather than focusing on his weaknesses and comparing himself to others. But this time it's a common-born boy rather than a princess, and Razo manages to get through the whole thing without ever manifesting any magical abilities. (If there's one thing I find odd about the Bayern stories, it's how many people end up with the various speaking talents.) Instead, he falls for a Tiran girl who is a waterspeaker, which proves really useful when they get to the confrontation with the firespeakers.
There's a fair amount of danger and adventure and people trying to kill other people. There's also the mystery of where all the burned bodies are coming from, and who exactly is trying to frame Bayern and start the war back up again. I can't say that I quite understand the antagonist's reasoning, but I'm willing to accept that there are people who do think that way. Like the only value a man can have is in being a good fighter. It's kind of sad, really.
But the real story is about Razo, and because Razo is who he is, this is probably the funniest of the Bayern books. He's convinced his only real talent is in being amusing, so he milks that one thing for all it's worth. It's when he finds out about the other things he's good at that he really starts to grow up and gain confidence. That's also a bit of a parenting lesson—Razo honestly believes he's pretty much worthless because no one ever pointed out to him when he was good at something, because he was the second youngest in a large family of (mostly) brothers. Take time to notice and praise your kids...not a bad rule of thumb, and if it isn't exactly the moral of the story, it's at least a moral.