To take the strings of the first book in this burgeoning series, “The Starless Crown”,  and fling them into the second while meanwhile building the bridge between them (and eventually the third next year)  is such a skill; and in Rollins’ case, masterfully done.

And where many a second book in a series is frequently (for me) the source of more info of course, but everything is left kind of dangling with the knowledge you may have to wait a couple of years for the next volume, is a not a problem here.(the third book will be out in 2025).

Nyx, the heart of this tale, whose magical powers are growing ever stronger, as is her heart’s companion, Daal, is once again in intense circumstances. The main action has Nyx and her companions on a wonderful airship in the Frozen Wastes seeking an artifact with the help of Shiya, the bronze woman/android’s guidance. They have to stop moonfall: an event that will fling the moon into the planet. The planet does not rotate and life is entered between the dark side and the light in a band girdling the planet.

The adventures, the careening airship battles, and the wars between various kingdoms are ferocious and the wonderfully strange life forms that help or hinder the people are so fascinating, especially the enormous bat-like creatures with whom Nyx gets along with and can communicate with and eventually persuades them to allow riders on their backs. There are also dynastic struggles that, no surprise, really stirs up troubles.

Most of the landscape that Nyx and companions deal with is ice-coated mountains and frozen seas. For me, it feels as if everything is conspiring against Nyx even as she struggles to do what she and her valiant friends can wrestle with. Every power struggle makes an irrevocable change in the environment. She loses people and hope but doggedly carries on. It is so worth the journey and by the time I reached the last two hundred pages I couldn’t put the book down. The intense situations are lined with sharp teeth that shake the plot violently.

If you liked the first novel, an SF adventure with strong characters, unusual environments and hellacious battles, this is really your book. I enjoyed the first volume immensely, and this was a whopper of similar size and scope and I can’t wait for the next volume! ~~ Sue Martin

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