The second book in the Weirkey Chronicles continues from where the last one left off. Our heroes, Theo, Nauda and Fiyu have set off on their own to gather more materials, become stronger crafters and, in the case of Theo, discover more about the deadly enemy hunting them from behind the scenes. In this they must travel to the farthest corners of Tatian and even into another world.

What I really like about this series is how varied and alive the different worlds feel. There’s the old complaint about Star Wars that there’s the desert planet, the swamp planet, the grass planet. Just one biome covering a whole planet, everything homogenised. This is not the case here. There are Nine Worlds and we’ve seen three of them by the end of this book but the variety within them is impressive. And each of the world are very different, while still seeming very natural. There’s even mention in the book about how such different societies could come to be It makes the world feel vibrant and alive.

The story is good as well, though still a little slow paced. We get to see from several of our heroes points of view throughout this novel, my favourite being Fiyu’s. It’s fascinating to see how she categorises everyone she comes across and how those categories shift organically. Again, it’s another part of the different cultures and world building that help elevate it over other works.

This is a great second novel and I look forward to what comes next.