I hope you’ve read the first book before reading this review; there will be spoilers.

We left Deka mad as a wet hen after discovering that Otera and the Jatu are being controlled by the Emperor and that not all the Jatu are mortal.  Some, like the Emperor, are true jatu and have some of the abilities of the alaki.  And they’ve been hiding in plain sight waiting for the opportunity to topple the Goddess worship.  But now that Deka has freed the Goddesses, life is sure to be quite different now.

But surprises keep coming to keep Deka off-balance.  It was always a question in the back of her mind as to how anyone or anything could be powerful enough to imprison the Goddesses but it was easy to push that thought away when she was enveloped in their love and admiration.  The Goddesses were the mothers she hadn’t had; they gave her abilities and power that meant men could no longer torture or imprison her.  It was easy to push away the niggling questions that had no answers.  And the bright future of sexual equality was entrancing.  All of that kept her firmly in their camp until she learned more than she was expected to.

It was a shock to both Deka and this reader to discover the Goddesses were not singular.  As a comparison, think of the old movie “Dark Crystal” where we discover the “good guys” and the “bad guys” are two halves of a whole.  That’s what we have here; and the male side of the split are not happy that the female side has been keeping them under lock and key and are not interested in reuniting.  And Deka is super unhappy to learn how she and her allies have been used.  But it seems that if the “mothers” and “fathers” are not willing to recombine or work together, then constant warfare will be the rule and mortal humans are just fodder or worse.

This is turning out to be a very satisfying story and I am looking forward to reading the third and last book.  It is written as a YA novel and typically I find those to be a little less substantial that my usual fare.  But this one is surprisingly complex and I find the characters to be interesting and even lovable.  I do recommend this.  ~~ Catherine Book

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