We’re back with the third book in the Jekua series, my favourite homage to Pokémon. When we last left our heroes Niona had joined the group and the friendship between Alani and Balt was strained after he abandoned her to go Jekua gazing and she got hurt. Which was a great development as far as I was concerned. In my previous reviews I talked about how the first book felt like a homage to the Pokemon franchise and it was in the second one where it started taking on a real personality of it’s own. If that’s the case then this is the book where the plot really takes off and it all begins with the ending to ‘A Fracture in the Qwisdeep.’

So we start this book with the violence of the Facet and Balt’s unavailability to protect Alani hovering over them. There’s also the no longer distant spectre of the Makanuele Rumble hoovering over them, the whole reason that Balt joined in the pilgrimage in the first place and which he’s now sworn he won’t take part in. It’s a good set up and the rest of the book develops it nicely.

Everything I liked about the previous books are still here. The world is fresh and interesting, the Jekua are introduced and described at a nice pace and the Pokémon references are still included in a restrained way. But what really shines here is the development of the characters. While we saw a bit of this in the last book, in this one they spend most of the time in one location and so there’s a lot more focus on it and less on exploring the world.

The tension that was introduced at the end of the last book is dealt with really well and I liked that progression all the characters made because of that. More I liked the way they developed as their own people. Balt and Alani were given more time apart and to breath in this book and they are the better for it. There’s a lot of really sweet moments, both between them and with other people.

And finally the ending pulled everything together is a really fantastic way. By the time I finished I felt that everything up until now had just been set up. Well written and enjoyable set up but a more focused plot starts now.

Once again Riddle took everything I loved about the previous book and dialled it up a bit, improving what needed to be improved and adding just a bit more complexity. If that’s a trend that’s going to hold I can’t wait to see what the next book will look like.