Rudolfo, lord of the ninefold forest, receives a warning from Winteria the elder usurper queen of the marshfolk that his wife Jin Li Tam and his son are in danger. When an attack almost takes his family from him Rudolfo is left with little choice but to send them to Winteria for protection but their resurgent religion may have deeper roots in his own land than he first suspected. Neb is still running the vast deserts of the world tracking a band of metal men who seem to have their own agenda. However Neb is soon targeted by strange women warriors and begins receiving warnings in his dreams from his dead father. With Neb in danger the exiled pope Petronus is tasked with coming to his aid but will he be in time? Vlad Li Tam has led the remnants of his family in a search for the forces that decimated them but when he begins to receive visits from a strange water spirit he starts to question his own sanity.
Pacing his always been very good throughout this series, with chapters divided into short sharp point of views keeping thing moving along nicely. Scholes sticks to the same effective formula here and infuses a real sense of tension when pushing towards the finale. Character development is a bit stronger than in previous volumes and I particularly enjoyed the juxtaposition of Rudolfo who has always been so confident before suddenly being thrust into a position where he has to question everything he has previously relied on and Petronus and Charles who have based their lives on the dictates of logic having to rely on faith.
Overall Scholes continues to deliver a strong and interesting blend of sci-fi and fantasy. 8.25/10.
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