Lokant by Charlotte English

I have made it clear both on twitter and on this site how much I really enjoyed Charlotte English's first book Draykon. I really felt that her first book was a great epic fantasy with some fantastic mystery elements in it, I even believe that people who have never tried out epic fantasy should do so with this book. My biggest concern with sequels is they are so hard to live up to the previous book if you feel in love with the first. I was truly so happy when I found that Lokant was a worthy follow up for Draykon.

The characters from Draykon all make appearances in Lokant, Llandry still taking a primary role, and Eva as well. At the end of Draykon the reader realizes so much more is going on that we previously believed, especially with Llandry becoming a draykon herself. This book does a fantastic job of letting the reader know more about the world while still maintaining a bit of mystery.

Llandry has found herself in a strange new world, and with a strange new man at her side who has proclaimed himself her mate. So much of this book is about Llandry coming into her own. She had a lot of character growth in Draykon, but in that book she was only a human, and now she is so much more than that. Now she has to find a place for herself in this world, while also trying to unravel the mystery of the people behind the scheme to unleash the draykon. It's really fun to follow Llandry in this book, because even though she is so different than before, it is clear that she is more herself in this book.

I also took more of a liking to Eva in this book than I did in the last. It isn't that I didn't like Eva in the previous book, but rather I didn't form a big bond with her emotionally. This was not the case in Lokant, I very much started to form a bond with her. And even more so I came to understand her a little more.

Part of the reason I really enjoy these books is that there is a huge mystery going on within them. The first book introduced draykon through the "stone" istore. And just when you thought the mystery had been solved, it turns out it was only the set up for a larger mystery. The amount of detail and thought that English has put into these book is astounding. For her to continue these books with such intricacy only shows how much forethought she has as a writer, and how much work had to be done to plot the serious out. She is a master at revealing just enough to the reader to want them to know more about what comes next, but never keeping the reader so much in the dark that the reader feels like they are missing out.

I really enjoyed the new group of Lokants, mainly because these group of people seriously open up the possibilities within the world, in ways I could not imagine in the first. I enjoyed getting to know how was really behind the events of the previous books, not just who was behind them, but their motivations, and then trying to figure out what the endgame is.

There is a bit more of a romantic element in this book, but only slightly. I have to say I appreciate that what romance in this book has taken time to build up to and felt very organic when it was introduced. 

If I had to pick one thing I didn't like about the book, or rather something I missed that was in the previous book but was lacking in this book, was the absence of the animals in this book. Sigwide was still in the book, but he was not a consistent companion to Llandry as in the previous book. And less was made of summoning and the various types of animals in the world (although there were a few instances in the book). That being said their absence wasn't hugely felt, the plot was fast moving, and you never felt like you were missing out on something.

Once again, I am going to give English another "great" rating. I think this is a great follow up, and I can tell she worked hard on this book to make sure it was a great follow up. I of course recommend everyone read Draykon first, but once you finish with Draykon you should most definitely pick up a copy of Lokant and get to reading it!