301 pages
English language
Published April 20, 2010 by Pyr.
Driven by the ghosts of the Darakyon, Achaeos has tracked the stolen Shadow Box to the marsh-town of Jerez, but he has only days before the magical box is lost to him forever. Meanwhile, the forces of the Empire are mustering over winter for their great offensive, gathering their soldiers and perfecting their new weapons.
his is an intermediate book in the series, with some extra world building but the plot doesn't move along much.
This series keeps getting better. It was nice to follow the characters to different places. We get to know Solarno (in Spiderlands), Jerez (a black market city, with a mysterious lake) and Szar (a Bee-Kinden city). I loved the Pilots of the Exalsee, an type of aviators club/group with their own code of honor and obviously against The Empire. The plot revolves around the search for the Shadow Box and who gets it. Now that I know who got it, I gotta keep on reading the series to find out what the box actually do!
Very comfort read. Didn't excite me, neither in a bad or unfortunately in a good way. I know the characters from the first few books already. I guess a new one or two showed up. The world events keep moving on.
A good read with a bit more action.
