A fascinating sequel that combines hilarity and heartbreak in equal measures, combined with a dash on inspiration from Iron Man 2 and Spider Man 2

Jackson Ford’s The Bone Raiders was a book absolutely hopped on steroids, drawing inspiration from How to Train Your Dragon in a Mongolian raiders setting. Sisters of the Lizard is a fabulous sequel that trades some of the chaos of its predecessor and channels it into interesting character journeys and tons of heartbreaking angst. I am thankful to Jackson Ford, Little, Brown Book Group UK, and NetGalley for my review copy.

Iron Man 2 had an intriguing concept to explore about other players getting access to the Iron Man technology and how that was likely to level the playing field. Sisters of the Lizard picks up this scenario with other Raider clans also possessing their own fire-breathing lizard or araatan. This naturally leads to retaliation when the Rakada try to enforce some order on the other groups. To make matters worse, in a Spiderman 2-like scenario, the araatan are falling sick, some fatally, and this has the potential to fracture the tenuous alliance between the Raider clans. The Great Khan, meanwhile, is making moves of his own with rumors of building a weapon against the araatan while trying to play the Raider clans against each other. When a vision manifests itself, the Rakada have to make a trip to the mountains to save their araatan.

“No one could reasonably look at any group of raiders, bristling with blades and bows and bad intention, and come to the conclusion that they were the ideal defensive force”

Sisters of the Lizard becomes a journey book in more than one way. While it is indeed a journey to find a solution to the sickness plaguing the araatans, every member of the Rakada has to find their own way in their own personal journeys. Sayana, the youngest, ebullient raider, the one who kickstarts the araatan revolution, now has to find her way in this world that treats her either as a firebrand with revolutionary ideas or as a naïve upstart. Sayana also has to balance her fear and concern for her lizard with the natural recklessness of youth while also nursing her unrequited love – a bit like Hiccup from How To Train Your Dragon. Khun, as weird and crazy as ever, spends time awaiting her “punishment” for failing her mission in the previous book – she also had hidden motivations on this journey, lending an edge to her actions.

“She had been fighting alongside Khun for a long time now, and she knew every flavor of the woman’s madness. As wild as it sounded, if somone was consistently insane in front of you, you got used to it”

Ehri is the Moash (from Stormlight Archive) of this book, a litany of bad decisions. Every decision that she takes is fundamentally driven by wrong motivations and intentions, and is like watching a shipwreck in slow motion. She thirsts for revenge and superiority, and often finds the wrong way to go about it. There is a certain element of perverseness in her desire, and this is also where the author twists her narrative away from the expected path. You are expecting certain things to happen and for certain realizations to play out, but it is tantalizingly just out of reach for most of the book.

“You can’t make something, and demand people only treat it how you want. You can’t control them like that. Otherwise, the thing you made…. it has no value. Zero. It’s just there for your ego”

Chemig meanwhile, is a leader searching for meaning, purpose, and her place in this new world of araatan. As someone whose position was very clear earlier, her word was the law; she finds herself grappling, unsure and tentative in this new world. While the mission to save the araatan is something she can rally behind, her journey is still purposeless. Running into a couple of royal warriors with Indian origin (I quite liked that), she realizes what life can be and how it can matter to her. While some of the changes do happen quickly (as it is, given the pace of the book), it is a heartfelt journey with a nice soft side to it.

“This strange duo: a father who deceived his son, and a son who deceived himself”

Hogelun is the true MVP of this story, as Sayana was for the previous book. Hogs discovers that there is a cost to agency and that now she is responsible for her own actions. She can no longer look forward to others, especially if the others are lost, and she has to take action. She does all of this even as she grapples with the effects of the betrayal from the previous book. Hogs really shines through the book, and some of her observations and actions are a natural evolution of who she was, how she started, and what she has been wrought into. Given the events at the end of the book, Hogs’ journey meets a natural end state; while being somewhat predictable, it just feels completely organic and earned.

“If there was one thing you needed to do a lot as a raider, even if you had giant fire-breathing lizards to ride, it was fuck shit up. Shit that often wanted to fuck you right back”

Sequels often are about expanding the scope of the universe the characters inhabit while introducing newer conflicts. Sisters of the Lizard expands the universe in a couple of critical ways. It points towards other competing tribes that are eyeing the same territory as the Khan, while also bringing in the mythology of the gods and their connection to this world. In fact, the journey of the Rakada in an attempt to heal their araatan sheds light on links to the divine. This gets played through the book in subtle ways before culminating in a brutal and bloody finale where characters have to make their own loaded decisions. The climax is possibly one of the most devastatingly brutal heartbreaks in recent reads – there is blood, there is death, and more terrifyingly, there are impossible choices for our band of raiders. Characters not just have to face physical violence, but they also have to face their past trauma and complex histories. I think I ended up swearing at Jackson Ford at least thrice during the climax and certify him to be an immensely evil, cruel, and sadistic writer (Hear that, Jackson – as compensation for this pain, you should be putting out another Frost Files book). The book however, isn’t all dour or morose. Large parts of the book are downright hilarious, especially unintentionally, as our characters get into all sorts of shenanigans (especially Sayana). Between Hogs’ newfound musing on agency and Khun’s ramblings, there are moments of levity that punctuate this book deftly even as things start to get darker. The narrative is always engaging, the situations even more so

“How is it that your solution to every single problem is, kidnap someone?”

Unputdownable like its predecessor, Sisters of the Lizard trades some of the chaos and exhilaration of the previous book for some pulse-pounding consequential heartbreak as our leads go on a journey, both physically and figuratively. Sisters of the Lizard packs in a lot of action in an entertaining book that expands the scope of the world in multiple dimensions. The action-packed nature, however, shouldn’t take away attention from the character-infused narrative that makes us love, care, bleed, and weep with these characters as they are stretched to the limit amidst a world that is more chaotic and dangerous. I loved this book and can’t wait to see how the consequences play out in the next one.

Sisters of the Lizard is due for release 5th May – you can pre-order your copy on Bookshop.org