Faithless continues the very soured relationship between Touraine – now on the council of her liberated homeland of not-Algeria – and Luca – not-yet-Queen of not-France. While Unbroken was set entirely in not-Algeria, Faithless is based around the court intrigue of not-France as Luca attempts to secure her throne from her uncle who is overstaying his welcome as regent like that friend who just needed one night on your couch while looking for a new place and now leaves a trail of soggy cereal around the flat 6 months later.

It takes a while to get started, with the court intrigue only beginning in earnest with a murder and a quest to track down not-France’s native magic (which they cast off in a bout of magical state secularism to go round banning other countries’ “uncivilized” magical traditions. But it’s threaded by constant tension in Touraine and Luca’s transactional relationship, punctuated by the marquis wine fop Sabine who does not let anything get in the way of her desire for a threesome with them both.

It felt a little less directed than the first due to the nature of being a bit more bottled in court politics than the fate and dynamics of an entire colony of people. But I feel like it sets up a lot for the third (final?) book so might well pay off well there.