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The Craft of Light | Rating | |
| A | |||
| Ru Emerson | |||
| Series | Related Books | ||
| Night-Threads | The Calling of the Three, The Two in Hiding, One Land, One Duke, The Craft of Light, The Art of the Sword, The Science of Power | ||
It's been four years, and Jennifer, Robyn, and Christopher Cray have settled in nicely in the home they'd found themselves unexpectedly summoned to. The two sisters are happily married - to dukes, no less! - and Chris is heading a small but very successful and prominent trading company aimed at bringing new technology into Rhadaz. But other outside influences are starting to pop up, most notably a drug called zero. It seems that somebody is hoping to replay the Opium Wars, with Rhadaz playing the role of China. As if that's not bad enough, it looks like Thukar Dahven's wretched, conniving brothers have returned and are making a play for the throne they think should be theirs. The two things hitting at the same time may be more than Jennifer, Sikkre, and Rhadaz can survive.
Unlike the initial trilogy, I found that this was not a travel quest. As a matter of fact, it barely involved travel at all! The book is mostly about trying to track down who was behind multiple assassination attempts on Jennifer and her husband. There is evidence early on that it is the missing brothers, but no proof - and whoever it is is still at large, waiting to try again and again. There's also plenty of speculating on whether the assassinations have anything to do with the zero trade. There is nothing to connect the two, after all. They could be linked - each plot helps the other along quite nicely - but it could be that all this is happening at once by chance. Zero was a problem that has building for a while, after all; it could well be a coincidence that it only is noticed now. Either way, trying to figure these things out hardly requires a lot of travel.
Which isn't to say nothing happens. Far from it; there's actually quite a lot going on here. Besides the assassination attempts in Sikkre, there's also Lialla's efforts to bring about something akin to a women's sufferage movement in the northern dutchy of Holmaddan. Both are tied tohether loosely by the the drug trade. And both have plenty of intrigue and action - a major change, that, from the first trilogy - all supported by a framework of excellent characters. Even the slow parts, where nothing much happens, are filled in with lively conversation that serves to bring readers up to date on what is going on in Rhadaz and the rest of the world.
As a new trilogy, it is quite possible to start with this book. There are enough references to the first books to give new readers an idea of what happened, but not so much as to irritate those who have already read them. Tracking those novels down and getting the full story is by no means superfluous. It's the perfect amount of exposition.
This book is, simply put, excellent. It really brings out the full potential of the universe Emerson has created. It occupied my mind with plenty of intrigue and mystery, while getting my blood going when all hell starts breaking loose in the second half. This is a great way to strt off a new plot.
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