With a new Queen on the thrown of Venda, Kazi is sent with her Ratan crew to find a certain traitor who has escaped Vendin justice. The small clan city where they believe he is hiding out has also come under new leadership with the death of their Patre. Jace (the new Patre) and Kazi have a confrontation right before they both get knocked out and shackled by slave runners. Chained together and finally escaping, they must find their way back to civilization and not kill each other on the way. Between political interreges and secrets they won't tell each other, complications arise and they must skirt around each other while falling in love.
The best thing about this series are the two main character and the natural development of their own individual character growth. The supporting characters are fantastic as well and do so much to build each other up to make it feel like a naturally functioning people. The Ratan and Jace's family are fantastic. Sometimes, because there are so many, I did get a bit confused, but many of them have such stark attributes that it's easy to tell what each character is like. I also listened to the audiobook and it helps a lot as well because the readers for this series did such a good job with characterization as well. My favorite is particularly toward the end when Synove fires her blunted arrow at a traitors back. That was perfect. That was amazing and so well set up.
There are misunderstandings, but not in the cliché "it's going to run the plot" kind of way. They intentionally keep secrets from each other because "national security." With it being intentional instead of happenstance, it makes the story and the dance that happens real and much less the cliché.
The world building that Mary did for The Remnant Chronicles and this series is amazing. It is top notch, even through it is in a basic "fantasy setting." There is so much time taken into the history of both series that makes it seem alive, seem real. No good story has no history. The histories, the ruins, the monuments, the rivalries all stem off how important history is to many of the cultures in this world. World building is my favorite thing in stories next to good characters. And this book is no exception to that.
I'm loving it and am listening to the second one animatedly. The cliffhanger at the end of this book, demands that the second book is picked up quickly. So, on we read.
