Changes

Next we move on to meet Telamon who is both politically active and a craftsman so is much more interesting from the beginning. The story really picks up pace from this point and it was worth sticking with the story to meet some of the other characters, everyone from this point has history either in politics or as a craftsman so the things move with more purpose and speed. The trouble is that the guild of craftsmen is a shadowy organisation where people only know their own part and no one is quite sure who else is a craftsman and what their part is so it is a little like feeling around in the dark. People our characters interact with are often referred to as a suit from a religious pack of cards that is never fully explained and several times someone is given a title from a particular suit of cards only for our character to ponder that this suit doesn't actually exist. Again, I felt like I was missing something, it felt like hard work to keep track of the plot at times because even the characters we are following do not know the plot. Again, maybe that is the point.

This may seem like a thoroughly negative review but bizarrely I did enjoy the book overall, and I would read the other two books in the trilogy, though I expect I would find them equally frustrating. I partly suspect that we are meant to find it wandering, frustrating, and unclear as war tends to be wandering, unclear, and frustratingly wasteful but perhaps, again, I have missed something. Would I recommend you read it? A resounding yes, do read it because it has some wonderful characters and some beautiful moments, and perhaps all will become clear in the next book. Alternatively, you could try reading [[The Tethered Mage by Melissa Caruso]].