After fighting his way through the Monarch research complex of Ghostwater, Lindon is stronger than ever. But will he manage to prove himself good enough to be accepted into the upcoming Uncrowned King Tournament?

We’re beginning to get into a tournament arc here, one that will cover this book and the following two.  The great thing about this is that the author is taking his time with it and letting it breath. There were hints that this might be happening in the last book and this book is all about actually qualifying to be placed on a team that’ll be going to the tournament. It’s been built up as a big deal and is being treated with the respect it deserves.

What I really like about this book is that it really shows the progress Lindon has made. There was a fair bit of that in the last book, with him defeating two dangerous opponents in Ghostwater. But there was a fair amount of training and preparation involved and an arguable deux ex machina at the end. But here we see him fighting on the same level as Yerin, who has been held up as one of the most dangerous fighters of her advancement. And it wasn’t some chosen one destiny, it was because of hard work and a lot of effort. It speaks a lot to how engaging this series is that the writer was able to leave it until the sixth book before that happened and it all feels completely natural. All in all this is another nice expansion of the world, with great character moments and good action scenes. Par for the course, really.