I have been waiting to start the second trilogy in the Powdermage universe because I hate to start an unfinished series. For some reason I still did it and now I'll have to live with the consequences, because I really enjoyed the first book.

It was great to be back in the universe and to meet a few familiar characters. It was nice that Vlora became a main character. My feelings regarding Ben Styke are more ambivalent. He is a cool character, but he's also a hardened killer. Someone I would definitely not want to be around in real life. And being a killer is apparently all he is, which makes him a bit boring as a character. He's rather one-dimensional with the one dimension being killing people. On an only slightly related note, I have become convinced that Ben Styke is modeled, in name and height, after author Sam Sykes. Maybe there are more familiarities, but I have no knowledge about Sykes' murderous side.

All in all a book I found difficult to put down.