Truthmarked by David Estes is book two of five in his Fatemarked epic series. I had a pretty good time with Fatemarked but wanted to quickly see how the followup would be. I’m happy to say that it is better than the first and exceeded my expectation. For one, the story picks up the pace much quicker than the first. There’s a lot more action this time around. Secondly, a couple of new characters were introduced which I didn’t mind one bit. Although the original cast were slightly above average, adding a new character or two did keep the story from getting too stale by introducing new elements and perspectives.

The overall story got some good progression level. Each character seems to be moving toward their own goals and building up momentum for things to come. The Four Kingdoms is still in a stage of turmoil and the author does a good job at making each character feel important in the overall scheme of things. I did not particularly cared for Grease Jolly’s character and struggle in the first book but his part got better in Truthmarked. I have a good feeling that his sister Shae would finally play a bigger part in book three. Her part in deciding the destiny of the Four Kingdoms seems to be underrated for now but hopefully that will change soon. I also said that the author wasn’t able to create a villain or character that the reader is supposed to really hate on in book one. Here in Truthmarked and presumably going forward, I’m assuming Rhea will be the chosen one to fulfill that role. We all get her plight and why she turned out the way she did but I would have hoped the author not spend every chance he gets to remind us of it during the telling of her part in the story. It gets irritating real fast. I also thought that her character should have been through more dramatic experiences before her transformation.

Things definitely picked up in Truthmarked as I mentioned earlier. We have a lot more battles at massive scale. The introduction of Jai and Raven was also a welcome. If anything, it seems that the southern kingdom has the most interesting history out of the Four Kingdoms. Some might find themselves put-off or uncomfortable with Roan’s bisexuality but I honestly never get offended at these things. For one, it’s only a story and secondly, it’s a reality. What I did discovered however is that the author’s writing is once again on par and flows from chapter to chapter. I never found myself skipping any parts through my reading and he does enough to describe things to give us a good vivid picture in our mind without babbling on and on. The first two of the books is around the 500 page mark, which I feel is just about right. The final three looks to be in the 800 pages mark so it will be interesting to see how it will hold up.

I find myself quite thrilled with this series overall. For some odd reason it’s not entirely captivating as other series I’ve read in the past but I discovered I had an urge to keep pushing on to see how things will turn out in the end. Everything the author does seems to be above average and yet I seem to be completely drawn in. Oddly, I’m not really rooting for any characters nor is there one more memorable than the other yet I feel compelled to see how things will turn out for them. Here’s to hoping book three will be another treat!