RANTS AND RAMBLES
DISCLAIMER: When I review books, weaknesses and inconsistencies tend to dominate my discussion; therefore, I will emphasize that any particular rant (and, yes, they can be long-winded) does not have special bearing on my unified opinion of the book. For this, please refer to my overall star rating. Additionally, this review is my personal opinion, intended to help like-minded readers navigate the plethora of available options. Use it as a tool but do not assign undue importance to it (i.e. feel free to disagree with me).

• This review is somewhat abbreviated as it is the second in a series and I did not feel like belaboring points already made previously. Please check out my review for The Sorcerer’s Inception if you want a more in-depth discussion of the strengths and weaknesses of the series.
• MINOR SPOILERS: The world of Azbel is by far the most interesting part and biggest draw of this series. It promises a fascinating collection of countries, each distinct in their mix of magic and technology. While the world has clearly been well thought out with countries functioning as a sliding scale from pure magic to pure technology, the characters and story do not explore each milieu in a meaningful or unique manner. For example, how would a magic user from a fantasy setting react to a large city full of technological wonders? In a very non-plussed manner, apparently. Or why do tech-heavy countries with large populations and the benefit of magic not easily invade their “backward” neighbors? There is some vague explanation about magic and technology being squibby at the borders of the countries, but this is never explained. To the story’s credit, the author introduces some good ideas like a tech-heavy country outlawing the public practice of magic, even going as far as to use magic to control wizards, but these are the exception and only briefly discussed. Lost opportunities make each setting feel identical to the others, apart from a few details.
• MINOR SPOILERS: The book has an obsession with jumping to a random character for a single chapter and then never returning to them again. Sometimes these chapters are important to the story, like the one which illustrates the relationship of the emperor and empress to their positions, subjects, and deity, while others are completely superfluous, like the one about a Lieutenant who is hilariously incompetent and unable to apprehend the protagonists. Usefulness of each instance aside, the transitions are always jarring and the periodic change of perspective for no significant purpose really impedes the story’s flow and momentum.
• MAJOR SPOILERS: The protagonists seem to know things they should not. One example is in chapter 23 when they encounter a search blimp and immediately know it is looking for them specifically. This is true, the bad guys are looking for the protagonists at the behest of a deity, but our heroes have no way of knowing this is the case. In fact, the idea that they are being searched for specifically should seem unlikely to them because a) the country they are sneaking into is at war and has many priorities which might require a search vehicle, b) they snuck across in an area where people are known to illegally cross the border, and c) everyone agrees it is unlikely they were ratted on. Oddly enough, though, everyone agrees that they are the specific target of the search blimp. This matters because the actions they take based on their assumptions involve drastic measures which draw attention to themselves to make the enemy believe they have died. These are the opposite of the kinds of actions they would have taken if they believed the search was more generalized. In this case, an overt action leading to their presumed deaths would not eliminate the threat of the search, and they would probably just try to stay under the radar and avoid unnecessary attention.
• MAJOR SPOILERS: Near the end of the book, Maluem finds herself extremely outmatched in a fight against the emperor and empress. Maluem is restrained, and her enemies are more machine than human and therefore stronger, faster, and better than her in every way. Despite this mismatch, she has an interesting advantage: her intelligence and the fact that while the emperor and empress have made themselves nearly completely machine, a small portion of their bodies are still organic. Maluem is able to creatively utilize a healing spell to restore the remaining flesh, devastating the mechanical-flesh interface, ultimately killing her enemies. This solution to the problem is great for a few reasons. First, the fact that, despite their efforts to completely mechanize themselves, the emperor and empress still have small amounts of diseased flesh is established previously in a way which explains their abilities and their relationship to the political and religious order but also sets up their fight with Maluem. Secondly, the reader knows Maluem has at least some ability in the healing arts because her lack of ability in this area has plagued her since the beginning of the series and, at great personal discomfort, she forces herself to learn the skill. The whole journey to build the skill is one of the best character development bits in the story, so it works really well on its own while her ability to eventually weaponize it is an unexpected twist. Both pieces of the puzzle are organically introduced earlier in the story but in a context which makes sense and adds to the story in its own rite. This obscures the unique use of magic, preventing it from feeling telegraphed, surprises the reader, and really makes Maluem seem clever for her creative solution. This is one of the best sequences in the book.
• MAJOR SPOILERS: Maluem is given a choice by the emperor and empress to join them in ruling and manipulating the populations of two countries or to die a painful death. Though a villain offering this kind of choice is a cliché, it can work if executed properly. The problem here is that there isn’t actually a choice at all because no reasonable reader will seriously expect Maluem to pick the first option. She doesn’t even struggle with the decision, proving it is not a moral dilemma, compelling piece of dialogue, or engaging character beat. It is simply a false choice of which we all know the outcome.
• MAJOR SPOILERS: Chapter 24 was no doubt envisioned with the best of intentions as a creative and exciting action sequence highlighting the zany and unique approach the protagonists take to solving problems. Unfortunately, improper execution takes it from being an effective scene to a case study in many things not to do in writing. First, the protagonists steal a helicopter-like vehicle from an enemy base “offscreen.” The assumed action and setting of the theft is so ridiculous, it is literally unbelievable, more so because we never see it happen. Second, the physics and operation of the “helicopter” is unrealistic. How was the vehicle not shot down by enemy rockets? Surely the advanced based it is stolen from has anti-air defenses. And how can the pilot, who has not flown before, keep control of the vehicle, even as cargo is sliding around in the cargo bay, an occurrence catastrophic enough to down real helicopters with expert pilots? None of this makes sense and serves only to kill the suspension of disbelief. Next, there is inconsistency in a ghost-like character who can solidify himself via astrologic projection. The extent of his ghost-like qualities is unclear. It is established earlier that he can choose what level of corporealness to have, so sometimes he can interact with physical objects and sometimes he passes through them. But at one point he ghostifies to pass through debris in the “helicopter” cargo bay, yet he does not fall through the floor. In fact, a comment is made that if he steps through the wall of the vehicle, he will fall and that would be bad. So why can he choose to ghost through debris and not the floor, but he can’t choose to not pass through the walls? Why does falling even matter to him in this state? It was established earlier than he can project himself over long distances, so even if falling would hurt him, he could simply project himself to the ground. Finally, later in the scene, the “helicopter” is going down, so the crew gets into a smaller flying vehicle to escape death. They all crowd in and the pilot throws a wrench at the bay door controls to open the doors. Except this shouldn’t work because it was explicitly stated prior that the button has to be held down for the door to open. Also, why not just have the ghost open the door? After the others had escaped, he could simply project himself to the smaller vehicle or even the ground. The whole chapter is chalk full of inconsistencies, and it hurts the entertainment and believability of the scene.