It had been years since I read the first book in the series so it took me a while to reacquaint myself with the characters and work out where I was in the story. Ellie and Seth have left the City and are on a raft headed out into the ocean after being pursued by the Inquisitors. After some struggles, they land on Shipwreck Island which is totally unlike the City in that the people revere a Queen who is said to have healing powers and people do not seem to be as persecuted as they were in their previous home. But the enemy is still lurking in Ellie's consciousness and even when she befriends the Queen ( who turns out to be a young girl like Ellie) things start to go horribly wrong...
Story moves along fairly well although towards the end I found myself wondering what I had got myself into in my attempt to read this trilogy as it seems like a book with a message about good and evil and also about environmental damage and spirituality and self evaluation. Some of the characters are delightful though - I loved Molesworth the boy who owned the pub - great concept! ( )