As an author grows you can see a big change in their writing. It usually gets a lot loose, more fluid, more comfortable. It can get a bit more irrelevant and personalised and is the start of an author really gaining their voice.

This is that book for John Bierce, I think, and I love it.

There’s so much fun to this book. Hugh and the gang are searching for the ancient, ruined capital of a defeated empire that will be making a reappearance at some point and fighting against the agents of a different, expansionist empire while they’re at it. It’s as traditional an adventure novel as you can get and it revels in that fact. Taking us from fascinating location to awe-inspiring vistas, through exciting action and trickery it’s a great journey that the characters are on and you’re more than willing to join them for it.

The world building is, by this point, just fantastic. I mentioned in my review of Into the Labyrinth how much of the foundation was laid in that book through the Bestiary and it’s starting to pay off here. References to creatures that were mentioned back then make the world feel so much more alive and when one of them turned up, in a minor capacity, I got so excited! This is a series where I just scoured the pages of all the books, highlighting everything that looked interesting or might turn up later. Not because I had to but because I wasn’t to explore this world as much as I could. My favourite Great Power in the series, The Mage Eater, also shows up here. Once you’ve read about them you’ll know why they’re my favourite.

Oh, and while we’re talking about worldbuilding, the end of this book contains a version of Galvachren’s Guide to Anastis. It seems identical to the first one but some of the things that have previously been redacted are now readable. Not a big deal but I thought I’d mention it.

Also, by the end of this book I’m fairly sure we have representatives of all of the LGBTQA spectrum appearing, some with cool backstories and some just living their lives. It’s nice to see and I’ve always felt that it’s a credit to the flexibility of worldbuilding and (specifically in the case of trans people) the magic system that it allows and welcomes them.

The moment-to-moment writing has also gotten better and, as I mentioned above, a lot more fluid. Whether it’s the ship’s (spider)cat called Precious who likes to wear knitted cats ears or the continuing mischief of Hugh’s spellbook there’s a lot of funny moments that sneak in here and there. It’s a fun and bouncy read that keeps dragging you along and making you want to read the next page.

Not that it’s all just jokes. There’s serious moments as well, that are played really well. And the characters are growing closer, which is really nice to see. Not just the main group, who were already pretty close by this point, but Hugh, Sabae and Talia with Godrick and, especially between Hugh and Kanderon. I really like that last relationship, it’s very soft and sweet.

This might honestly be my favourite book in the whole series, for the worldbuilding, for the development of the characters and because it’s just fun to read through. It also includes a short story about Ilinia Kaen Das at the end and I love that character and this short story. So all in all, this is a great book.