For those getting ready to read book 3 (Rebel Blade), here’s a reminder of the key events of book 2. (You might also need to remember what happened back in book 1, so here’s the recap: Notorious Sorcerer.)
(Spoilers below! That’s the whole point!)
As we rejoin our heroes, Siyon is struggling with what being the Power of the Mundane even means. His new notoriety is uncomfortable, the inquisitors are still annoying pests, and Midnight—an eerie and menacing crime baron—is stepping out of the shadows to make dark and strange demands. The last thing he needs is for beings from other planes to start popping up in the Mundane, so of course that’s what starts happening.
Meanwhile, Zagiri and Anahid are both struggling with society. While Zagiri tries to find a clerkship, and deals with djinn gatecrashing her garden parties, Anahid is giving in to the thrills of the carrick table—and her anger with the boorish nephew of a crime baron—to win ownership of a Flower House. As Zagiri finally gets a high-profile clerkship, Anahid needs to keep her outrageous new job a secret, while demoted inquisitor Vartan Xhanari is taking a new interest.
After an angel destroys the fruit market, Siyon chases down the helpful young Khanate magician Mayar, opening a new angle on thinking about the planes and their energies. With his helpful new secretary, Balian, helping to fend off the officious demands of Izmirlian’s belligerent brother, Avarair, Siyon works to shield the city of Bezim with magic, but in the process he provokes a new confrontation with the strange and increasingly strident Midnight.
While Zagiri struggles to juggle her bravi life, her clerkship work, and the intriguing rebellious entanglements of her new social partner—Yeva, daughter of the Northern ambassador—Anahid struggles with the ongoing animosity of the Zinedani, seeking help from Xhanari… and winding up in his bed. The situation escalates when she’s kidnapped by the Zinedani, and barely talks her way out of a confrontation with all of the barons—Zinedani himself, the strange Midnight, the menacing Aghut from Dockside, and the brassy queen of the lower city, Mama Badrosani.
When a griffin starts laying waste to the city, Siyon and Mayar scramble to deal with it, helped by Zagiri (and the bravi) and Yeva (surprised amidst rebellious smuggling). But the crisis reveals a deeper problem that has been simmering for weeks: the energy of the Mundane is rising, and magic is starting to seep through the cracks of the world. But the Council wants simple, and Avarair orders Siyon to fix things… or else.
With the Council paralysed by fear, Zagiri turns to Yeva’s rebellion, and they leverage a magical energy-bombing of the industrial district into repealing the illegality of sorcery. Meanwhile, Siyon is racing to try and understand, let alone control, the energy of the city, even asking Midnight—and only coming out with more questions. He forms a plan for a grand ritual, harnessing the energy of Salt Night—the city’s new year celebrations.
Ongoing Zinedani vindictiveness claims the life of one of Anahid’s flowers, and in the magical chaos, there is little the inquisitors—even Xhanari—are able to do. She makes her own plans with the other barons for a final reckoning, but is betrayed and ambushed in the Badrosani theatre by Zinedani himself. Assisted by Laxmi, Anahid faces down her foes, but in the process both Zinedani and his nephew Stepan are killed—Stepan at Anahid’s (bloody) hand.
Salt Night—unsurprisingly—is a mess: Balian is revealed to be Izmirlian’s younger brother, Zagiri has to race off to deal with explosives on the Swan Neck bridge, and Siyon’s ritual raises not only the energy of the city… but also causes a mighty earthquake. As Zagiri races to pull the bravi and rebels together to help the populace, Siyon gives in to Midnight’s demands, and descends into the earth. There, he finds a dragon, waking from her sleep and not happy about the chains that bind her. Her release lays waste to the Palace of Justice; in attempting to confine her again, Siyon is overwhelmed by her denial. As she flies away, his unconscious body is hurried away. As officials rally—led by Avarair—Zagiri plans her future fights, Anahid breaks free of her old life, and Siyon goes to ground in the lower city—with unexpected new powers, and an even less expected gift from Balian: a stack of Izmirlian’s old journals.
(Read on in Rebel Blade!)