I had to downgrade my old rating of 5 stars on this one. I’m not sure I’ve ever done that. While I still found The Riddle-Master of Hed to be worthy of 5 stars, re-reading the second book in the series some 20 years after my last previous read, I just didn’t enjoy Heir of Sea and Fire as much as I remembered.

In fact, I’d forgotten almost all the details of this second book. And sadly, it was rather boring. I know it’s about Raederle discovering her own powers as she searches for Morgan, but … it just didn’t work so well for me. I think most of what I remember about the character must come from the third book.

One of the problems I had was that everything simply came too easy for Rae. Sure, it was like that for Morgan, too, but since he is the Star-Bearer, it was easier to overlook it. I don’t know, having everything be so easy for two people who are destined to be together just seemed like quite a bit to swallow.

I was going to downgrade to 3 stars, but am currently sticking to four because I think the trilogy needs to be taken as a whole. I’m just hoping now that rereading Harpist in the Wind doesn’t convince me this series really isn’t as good as I remember it from my youth.