After the chaos of solstice night in the Barrow, Samarra and her ragtag group are dealing with the devastation left in the wake of their attack. Fortified by their grief and the knowledge that they’ve stopped this year’s shipment of stolen girls, they set off on a daring mission to rescue the friends they’ve lost to the traffickers. With the trafficker’s cart as their cover, they plan to disguise themselves as the abducted girls and their guards to get past the wall into the military state of Seira. A plan that has a high chance of killing them all, should they be discovered. But before Sam has to return to the south where she escaped, she and her friends must fight their way across the Waste—a journey just as treacherous as their doomed mission. Will they all survive it?
It’s notoriously difficult to craft the second book of anything, yet author Tanya Lee excels in this second installment of THE WOLF AND THE RAIN trilogy. A worthy sequel and one that outpaces its predecessor, THE THIEF AND THE WASTE takes readers beyond the slums of the Barrow to another perilous locale in this unique post-apocalyptic, dystopian setting. The Waste—a burned-out land full of ruin, relentless sun, and toxic dust—is the perfect place to toss Sam and her friends for the second act of this saga.
Not only is it a compelling narrative bridge, it also feels like a symbolic one, as the shocking truths revealed in Sam’s escape from Seira merge with the disorienting chaos of the Waste. More dangerous than the Barrow are the elements, the bandits they can barely see through the oppressive cloud of dust, and the distrust that’s still poisoning their relationships and possibly their mission. The action is as unyielding as the book’s setting, one conflict piling on top of another—either emotional, romantic, or a very real threat—to create an atmosphere that sizzles with tension.
Familiar characters grapple with loss, anger, guilt, and romantic feelings, while new ones inject more conflict and complex dynamics to the story. Lee has an impeccable touch when creating memorable, flawed, and realistic human beings in this series, whether they come from the free-spirited north or the militaristic south. It’s easy to form an attachment to this ragtag group; their quick-witted banter, even if it’s not always in jest, adds some great levity to balance the heavy themes. Samarra is arguably one of the most complicated, compelling, and deeply likeable protagonists in YA lit. As her two lives converge in the Waste, her internal struggles become clearer, though she still wrestles with forming her own identity in this new life she’s been trying to make. While Sam finally begins to process her own guilt and grief from her past in Seira—which creates a wonderful moment of vulnerability for her character—the rug is ultimately swept from underneath her feet again. What awaits Sam beyond the wall betrays everything she thought she knew about the state of Seira and herself.
Tanya Lee’s writing creates a feeling of suspense that’s cinematic in THE THIEF AND THE WASTE, a tense sequel that outpaces its predecessor in an emotionally stirring story that packs a punch and is impossible to put down.
~Jessica Thomas for IndieReader