 The Lessons Never Learned by Rob Hayes, the second book in The War Eternal, again an older review but I am making it available in a video format for a brand new audience of three people, hopefully. Anyway, let's jump into it, shall we? The second act of any fantasy series can often be the one that a series lives or dies by. A first impression is important, but following up on the promises the opening of a series makes, well, many a novel has faulted there. The Lessons Never Learned, however, does an admirable job of doing exactly that. It builds up on the threads first set up by along the razor's edge in perfect ways. The novel offers explosive source-rejection, a richly emotional arc for series protagonist Eskera and explores an imaginative world full of peril and scarred by war. It's a hell of a read, but it does have something of a problem to start with. I had a rough go of the first head of the Lessons Never Learned. This story is framed as being told by an older, far more experienced esker. And this version of the character is not always the finest storyteller. She's prone to going on tangents on heavy foreshadowing that edges on the theatrical. And some of the paragraph long sections of her commentary would make most villains cheeks turn red at the sheer amount of megalomania at this play. I found out beyond charming this type of foreshadowing is something Gene Wolf does with great success in the book of the New Son. In the opening third of this one, The Lessons Never Learned, however, I found myself a little too exhausted by the digressions Eskera goes into time and again. I will say, with hindsight now, well in view, this is only ever an issue in this first third of the Lessons Never Learned. It's never again an issue. In the fourth and fifth books, Eskera's digressions are ever entertaining. Or sometimes a reason for existential angst, honestly. There is quite a bit of growth. But anyway, the storytelling here suffered somewhat and I had a hard time getting through some of these first chapters. Don't get me wrong, a number of them are the usual thrilling thoroughfare I learned to expect from Rob Hayes early on. But there's too many a tangent that makes of the opening of this sequel, Slow Burner, that did not suck me in the way the opening of Rays' Edge did. When you get past that first third of the book, however, the sky is the limit for this one. Eskera battles gods and faces her in demons in more ways than one, makes mistakes and pays the ultimate price for them. And not in the way you might think. The thrills, the action, the twists and turns in betrayals compounded by yet further betrayals. But gods, this book covers a lot of ground and it does so with expertise. The magic system is further developed in ways that were very cool and never contradicted the setup in the previous installment of the series. Allow me to catch you up with a quote. A cool imaginative twist on the schools of magic you might be familiar with. The magic in this world is internally consistent in what I'd call hard magic. And yes, I can't believe I had the nerve to quote my own review. Oh well, powered by soul stones, the sorcerer must swallow. Each stone has a different magical affinity. Neverland offers a number of revelations as to the origins of these. Soul stones, the relationship of the souls with the godlike gin and rent. And some fascinating developments on all fronts. So too with the worldbuilding, which has elements ranging from the fascinating to the downright eldritch. The first book in the war eternal series nailed the sense of containing a bigger world outside of the pit that the vast majority of the action took place in. Every one of the greatest successes of this sequel is that lessons delivers on this promise. It manages to show just how deep this world goes and it promises to show so much more. Promises that again the series delivers on time and again. One description in particular is worth quoting. In Palatia, deep within the desert, there is an oasis where the waters run red and the trees grow purple. Above that oasis the sky is cracked open and through the jagged scar above a great eye stares down on the world. Hell of an image and one I'd love to one day see rendered into a visual medium be it fan art or an animated show or anything of the sort. An illustrated book that'll be cool. That would be cool. Illustrated editions. I would petition the author to get on them right now. Anyway. Oh and by the way, this description? Only a description here. So much more later on. The characters are even more appealing than they were the first time around. New editions include Silver, an aspect of the round whose connection with Esca was hinted at in the previous novel. The nature of these two characters' relationship is a large part of the emotional backbone of the novel and lessons as climax rests on it entirely. Escawer herself shows a great deal more emotional range and depth here than she did in the first novel, where Anger was often followed by Fury and Fury in equal measure in Escawer's time in the bit. Life outside the dreaded prison allows this card young woman to really embrace and experience love in all its aspects. For all that her flaws remain and we have them to thank for some exceptional action scenes and plenty of exciting new revelations. But some of my favorite paragraphs are of these quiet moments of reflection when the old rescuer takes stock of her experiences with observations rich in both clarity and wisdom. Quote. Both Hart and Tamara looked at me. Hart has always followed me ever since our time in the pit. I have often wondered why, what I did to earn the trust and loyalty of such a man. I have no answer. I am as much a monster as a creature that inhabit the otherworld, perhaps even worse, for most of them are mindless and don't understand what they do. But Hart is a good man. He would be a good man if not for the things I've made him do over the years. Tamara too followed my lead and accepted my decisions, but for him I know why. He's all power in me, the potential to be part of something great or terrible. I think I ended up being both, and I don't think it mattered to him either way. If I had a year to wait for the release of From Cold Ash's Risen, I would have rebelled at the cliffhanger, but I didn't. Fortunately, Hayes did decide to release every book of this trilogy basically a month apart from one another, which meant that even as the original readers of this review enjoyed my worth smithing, I was likely digging into the conclusion to what continued to be the end and has cemented itself as my favorite trilogy of 2020. It ended up not being a trilogy, of course, but we can only benefit from that because the fourth and fifth books are even better than these. I cannot. So much better. The investment you end up with in Eskira, in her friends, her family of the charts. What these books put you through is the most exquisite torture, and I cannot recommend you read them enough. Anyway, if you enjoyed this review and would like to see the next one, please tune in to my YouTube channel again. Subscribe, like, share, whatever it is that YouTube people say. I was never too good at it, and no amount of deprecating humor. What was up with that pause? No amount of deprecating humor will ever change that. I'll see you again next time. Bye!