Wilds and Antidotes

Daily Ramble 150: Wilds and Antidotes

Today I continued my adventures in Horizon Zero Dawn by moving forward with Rost outside Mother’s Embrace. I don’t get too far but there’s obviously a lot of dangers out here that I have to be careful of. The machines in the embrace were bad enough, but those outside not only fight humans, but the fight each other and that has me scared. Beyond these machinse I also finish up reading Silverthorn, the third book in the Riftwar Saga. Arthura, Pug, and Tomas all show up to make this a fun installment but things are getting ominous with the bad guys becoming bigger and more powerful. I can’t wait to continue on to the next book.

Headed Into the Wilds

Leaving Olara and Brom and gathering a bunch of materials for equipment upgrades was all fine an good but I finally had to make my way over to the North Gate to meetup with Rost.

Of course he’s worried about me and Aloy attempting the Proving, but Aloy is mostly worried that he won’t want to interact after she succeeds in the contest. She assures him that no matter what, she will always care for him and come to speak with him. She’s never gonna shun him…he raised her after all.

After a rest we head over to the North Gate. Apparently there are still those who would help outcasts as they opened the gate to allow us out of Mother’s Embrace so Rost can teach us his final lesson before the Proving.

Things are dangerous outside and the first thing we see is a destroyed machine. For some reason, the machines out here fight each other so they must be dangerous. It appears there’s a survival of the fittest out here in the wilds and we have to keep our wits about us. Fortunately Rost is familiar with the immediate vicinity, he finds us a safe place and agrees it’s ok for us to take a break before continuing.

Silverthorn

Last month I finished off the Magician story by completing Magician: Master and this month I start up the 2nd/3rd book ion the Riftwar Saga…Silverthorn. This book focuses more on Arthura, Prince of Krondor, and his journey to save his fiancée. Princess Anita is poisoned on the day they were to be wed and she descends into a dangerous coma. The only thing that can save her is Silverthorn, a plant only found is one place.

Through the journey to collect the antidote, Arthura learns that a mighty foe is arrayed against him, one that is fearless even of the gods. Murmandamus is determined to stop Arthura and causes all kinds of havoc to interfere with the prince’s progress but he ultimately can’t stop the determined prince.

The story is well put together and the trials are worthy of the epic tale. Pug and Tomas show up again to help out as well, and Pug figures out how to travel back across the rift. On the whole, the story is just as good as I remember it. Sorcery and priestly magics collide with demons and evil mordhel, and we learn that there’s an even more devious power behind everything that’s gone on since before the Riftwar began.

In the end, some things are resolved while others set up future stories quite nicely and I anticipate continuing the story. The fact that this series jumps between two worlds is one of the things that drew me to it in the first place and I find that it still holds me all these years later. Pug and Tomas may be pretty powerful, but they continue to have their weaknesses and their friends and families need to be able to move forward on their own quests while facing danger.

I really enjoyed this third installment and rate it a B+.