Ten arrows of iron

Sal the Cacophony has crashed an airship--her stories always open dramatically--and, while she waits for her companion to heal under the ministrations of the apothecary, Meret, she explains how they got there. Sal was hired by a brilliant spellwright as the muscle for a daring airship heist that would, if all had gone as planned, put an end to the Imperium and the Revolution alike. Instead, it went horribly, explosively wrong. Sal knows she makes bad choices and has painted herself into a corner with all the destruction she causes. She has scars and trauma, but, despite her reputation, she tries to do the right thing, or at least the kinder thing, and she's starting to understand the problems inherent with revenge. The adventure is daring, the criminal enterprise convoluted, and Sal continues to be both an oversize legend and a conflicted human character with a terrible sense of humor and strong opinions about opera. This excellent sequel to Seven Blades in Black (2019) sets up the next installment, and is itself a fantastic piece of work.

The second installment to Sykes's The Grave of Empires series (following Seven Blades in Black) reunites readers with the magnificently complex heroine Sal the Cacophony in a hair-raising adventure packed with action, wit, and feeling. Exhausted by her quest for revenge against the 33 wizards who betrayed her and stole her magic, Sal accepts a job from Two Lonely Old Men to steal a relic of enormous power from the airship fleet Ten Arrows, believing it will bring her one step closer to the vengeance and the peace she craves. By the time Sal discovers she's been roped into a much larger magical conspiracy, the only way to save herself, those she loves, and the innocents around her is all-out war. Sykes weaves the multiple converging plot threads with grace, and easily moves his myriad well-shaded characters through a lavish world and larger-than-life battlescapes. Despite the novel's epic scope, Sal's relationship with her beloved, Liette, remains personal, intimate, and heartbreakingly human throughout. This an unforgettable epic fantasy. Agent: Danny Baror, Baror International (Aug)