Kai attempts to intervene in one such execution, and in one leap of faith goes from being a successful, respected professional-on-the-rise to a pariah. Soon she is discovering first-hand the ugliest aspects of religion, for hunger, torture, murder, and slavery are the daily lot of thousands of people who lack good legal representation.

Readers of Gladstone’s debut novel, Three Parts Dead, will be glad that Cat plays a role in this adventure as well. Ms. Kevarian puts in an appearance too, and there is an unexpected tie-in with Two Serpents Rise.

Max Gladstone is a fantastically talented writer. Descriptions range from visceral to sublime, the plot is tight, the characterizations distinctive, the epiphanies exquisitely wrought. Plus he’s funny, if you like your humor laced with acerb. For example: “By 1:00 AM [Kai’s] work was done: three chickens sacrificed, one each on altars of silver, iron, and stone; a stack of profit and loss statements dispatched by nightmare telegraph; a proposal drafted, suggesting an Iskari family shift their faith from the high-risk personal resurrection market to dependable grain-focused fertility” and “’The best stuff to steal is stuff the target can’t admit is gone.’” ~~ Chris R. Paige

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