“No matter what happens, you must survive. At all costs.”
Time’s Orphan is the thrilling conclusion to the Odriel’s Heirs series. The Time Heir has been missing for years, leaving the other Heirs to fight the Lost without them. Emara, once found, must decide if she’s brave enough to step into the shoes of the Time Heirs before her and save Okarria from the necromancer king, once and for all.
The world of Okarria is being plunged into darkness under the growing power of the Rastgol, the Lost, Conrad and Ivanora. There is a definite darker feeling in this book compared to earlier books (book 1 review here). By Time’s Orphan, we know what Okarria is meant to look like, and this Okarria is somewhat scarier than it has been. I immediately felt the fear and the dark turn the world has taken since we left Idriel’s Children (review here). Chow does an excellent job at contrasting this in other settings as Emara goes about being the Time Heir.
“The world was never perfect. And even if we succeed, it will never be perfect”. Shad’s tail brushed against her. “The only thing we can do is try to make it a little better with the time that we have”
Emara, aka Ioni Rao, is the missing Time Heir we’ve waited two whole books for, and I was so pumped to meet her finally. I have to admit after Idriel’s Children, I was a mite bit curious if we were ever gonna meet the Time Heir properly. But, this is a great example of the wait being worth it. Emara is tough, she’s kind and she makes for a great healer with her abilities. I’d like to note that many “healer” magical characters I’ve read in other series can be a bit… afraid to defend themselves, leaving that work to other characters. Not Emara though, and this was rather refreshing. She can, and will do what needs to be done to save herself and save the day.
This book had the same fast-paced action I’ve come to enjoy in the other books in the series. That’s definitely one of the stronger parts of the book. Chow does not dwell too long on unnecessary details, giving the reader just enough detail (with a few pearls of wisdom from Shadmundar) and then getting back into the action and intrigue.
“…you must remember we only have the choices we are given. Once a path is made, it cannot be unmade.”
Out of all the romances we’ve seen so far in this series, Emara’s romantic sub-plot was my favourite. I will not give spoilers here, but it was the cutest thing. I was not expecting it, but I’m here for it. Seeing Aza and Makeo’s ongoing relationship through Emara was also a highlight.
Being the final book in the series, I really appreciated getting to read a bit on the cast we’ve come to know in the other books. We got to hear about all the other heirs and main characters from the series Kaia, Klaus, Zephyr, Aza and Makeo. It was fitting, as a reader who appreciated all the twists and turns of the series, to get to see how everyone is doing by the end.
This was a great finale to a much-enjoyed series. Though, I’m not gonna lie, I’m secretly hoping for spin-offs and more from the series!
Note: I was provided an ARC of this book by the author in exchange for an honest review.
