Book Review: ‘Vorodin’s Lair’ by JV Hilliard

Author: JV Hilliard

Originally Published in 2022

Review by Miriam Atkinson

Vorodin’s Lair is the second book in JV Hilliard’s Warminster Series and continues immediately after the events of the first novel – The Last Keeper.

Daemus, Addilyn, Ritter and their companions are travelling to meet The Athabasica (a wise leader and poet) and to find Vorodin’s Lair (a great library of knowledge) in order to discover answers to Daemus’ visions and Addilyn’s sighting of the ill-omened tetrine. With the kingdom of Warminster in civil war, Prince Montgomery sails to secure an alliance with the Norsemen against the treacherous Von Lormarck. Meanwhile Von Lormarck’s daughter Ember contemplates how best to save the people she cares about from her father’s violent plans. Hidden in the background, the Fallen Keeper Greytorris plots his return to power.

The plot has a lot going on including plenty more that is not mentioned above. While I do think new readers to the series may struggle, as a returning reader a lot of the characters and the locations were already familiar to me. I found I was quickly able to get into the flow of the story and follow the narrative.

An issue I had with The Last Keeper was the overabundance of characters used as point-of-view narrators. While Vorodin’s Lair continues to use several narrators the overall number has been reduced. This meant I could keep track of the different characters more easily than I had in the first book. I feel a reduced number of narrators also helped to focus the story by concentrating on the most important plotlines.

However, whilst on the subject of narrators, given their prominence in The Last Keeper I was surprised by how much smaller Addilyn and Ritter’s roles were in this book. As they are travelling together, Daemus becomes the main narrator for that group of characters – giving Addilyn and Ritter less to do until the party arrives at its destination.

One element that increased between books were scenes featuring the Followers of Erud (the Ancient/God-like being Daemus follows). The chapters set at the Cathedral of the Watchful Eye were my favourite in the novel. Honestly I would have enjoyed it if the whole book featured the political struggle between the Keepers, Disciples, and Watchers. I really liked the growing tension in these chapters as Greytorris’ followers plotted his return and planned to take control of the Cathedral.

Since it was such a big part of the first book I was surprised by the significantly fewer number of battles and physical conflicts in Vorodin’s Lair. Apart from the odd moment, all of the action was saved for the story’s climax. The novel ends strongly when Daemus’ group and the individuals who had been hunting them finally meet and the characters are forced to quickly defend themselves.

Whereas The Last Keeper introduces the reader to Warminster, a lot of Vorodin’s Lair sets up events in the coming third book. As a result many plot threads are left open. I would have liked it if we’d had a few more resolutions in this second book but I understand that Hilliard would want to keep his options open for future instalments. Despite this there are still plenty of moments for readers to enjoy in Vorodin’s Lair which continues strongly in the style of its predecessor.

A digital copy of ‘Vorodin’s Lair’ and the images used in this review were kindly provided by the team at JV Hilliard Books. For more information check out Hilliard’s website.

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