King of Souls is the second book in the Echoes Across Time series. Although not dire it would be advantageous to read book #1, Shard Knight, to fully understand the characters.

The borders of Meranthia are being overrun from the sea by the Baerinese led by the powerful Necromancer Tara, hell bent on revenge, and by land from the Obsith desert dwellers led by a sorcerer who has total domination in his sights. Help will come from an unexpected source but will this be enough for King Ronan to save his people.
Matthew Ballard gives the reader a masterful teen/young adult novel full to the brim with nonstop action, suspense, shape shifters, magic, life or death battles and dragons. This book has dragons!!!
Although told through three different story lines, following Tara, Danielle and Ronan, each is easy to follow. The vivid scene descriptions take you right into the story and make it very easy to imagine that you are right there, amongst the action.
My one small con is the long explanation of how the magic originally came to be. It took me out of the immediate story for awhile and got in the way of the general atmosphere. I think there is scope here for a prequel.
King Ronan still has some battles on his hands and I’m looking forward to reading Maylin’s Gate, Echoes Across Time #3. ( )