A really lovely new tale from a very talented writer.  A very interesting world where humans are restricted to land since the world’s waters have heinously huge predatory creatures called Leviathans which, on occasion, breach the seawalls and rampage well inland laying waste to whole towns. Their entire society revolves around this occasional event. Their infrastructure is, essentially, a series of walls designed to deter the beasts and weaponry to destroy one should it not be stopped at the wall.  Their society’s superstars are the Engineers who manage the walls and deploy the big guns.  In addition, certain people – either due to their family’s status or the job they do – have particular physical enhancements that come from the Leviathans.

The story is told by a young man, Dinios Kol, with enhancements that make him an Engraver. He has the ability to remember in such detail that he can completely replicate whole conversations he hears or all the details of a crime scene.  He is also able to instantly correlate disparate bits of information, making him quite formidable; if he just weren’t quite so young.  He is employed by another enhanced individual – the extremely eccentric investigator, Ana Dolabra.  Ana is quite infamous for her quirks, and famous for her effectiveness as an Investigator.  They are tasked with an apparent murder of a high-ranking military officer in an unusual location and with an improbable weapon.  The location is a private home of a most powerful and influential family, the Hazas.  The weapon was a tree – that exploded out of the officer’s very body.

What started as a crime investigation quickly morphs into a possible conspiracy to destroy the city by deliberately allowing a Leviathan to breech and enter; but for what purpose and who benefits? Their search takes them into the rarified society of the most powerful who never believed they would ever answer for their actions.  And it was the unique abilities of one low-ranking Engraver combined with the razor-sharp mind of an investigator who also has … unique abilities.  What they find may challenge the very infrastructure that both protects them and enables certain individuals to have special powers or abilities.  The author tantalizes with hints of what else might lurk within halls of power.  There is certainly room for another story of two; after all, this book is already titled as “book 1” indicating the author has a contract to write more.

The world-building was excellent; the world sufficiently strange to keep the interest of a reader.  The main characters were very interesting and I was eager to hear of the next revelation as their investigation progressed.  There is, of course, an inevitable comparison to Watson and Holmes.  And it’s not undeserved.  Ana, the investigator had a terrific backstory which I anticipated; there was no way that her assignment to a backwater location and in place to investigate the most powerful was an accident. Altogether a satisfying fantasy which I greatly appreciated.

Please see our other reviews of this author’s previous trilogy which were also wonderful. ~~  Catherine Book

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