Well, this story truly didn't disappoint.  Aelis becomes more and more real in my mind; she is a really engaging character.

The story picks up right where the last left off.  At the end of the last book (spoiler ahead), Aelis accidently unleashed an unknown number (maybe dozens, maybe hundreds) of animated skeletons; all of which exist only to kill.  It is now her duty and moral obligation to stop them all before they threaten her protected town of Lone Pine.  While the people who live in the woods beyond the town aren't actually her responsibility, she doesn't want any deaths on her hands.  Especially for something stupid she did.  Unfortunately, her dismay and feeling of urgency causes her to make a literal misstep on her way back to Lone Pine.  What seems like a mere twisted ankle turns into something so much worse that actually drives much of the story.

Aelis warns the townsfolk of what might be coming; discovering along the way that she's become something more to the town.  Although the town initially had little use for her, her efforts have gained her more goodwill.  She also finds she has stalwart companions to accompany her to find and destroy the animated corpses (just don't call them undead).With Tun, Timmuk and her lover, Maurenia, she's sure they will succeed.  But then, Aelis has never been short on arrogance.

Their first encounter turned out to be something a bit unforeseen; corpse dogs that must've been animated by a very powerful necromancer.  Maurenia was their only casualty with wounds that needed immediate attention.  Against Aelis' better judgement, she had to decide to take Maurenia back to a homestead they'd passed by, in order to render medical aid.  Although she felt she had no choice, the repercussions were felt throughout the story.

The homestead belonged to a creature named Rhunival having the appearance of a man but obviously being something else/more.  In the mind of taking care not to engage in a bargain that might have consequences, Aelis and her companions were very careful in their trade for the safety and comfort of Rhunival's home plus hot food.  Aelis was coming to the opinion that although she'd killed the evil rogue Warden, Dalius, it was looking like he might still be alive.  And, as it turned out, Rhunival had just the right information about where she might find him and how to stop the animated corpse horde heading their way.  Although Aelis was sure the bargain they struck would end up being a bad idea, she had no other options.  In exchange for getting into an impregnable vault to find a device that would literally turn off all the animated corpses, she had to find a particular object for Rhunival.  And it might still have been a good bargain for our brave troupe, except for one tiny unsuspected little thing that occurred without their knowledge.  One tiny little drop of blood that changed everything later.

It was a very exciting story as the heroes brave a nasty fortress, fight an unbelievably horrible creature, and find the magic object; only to lose one of their own to an eternal prison.  And what made this story so good, was that those events were not the end of the story.  Once back in Lone Pine, Aelis found evidence right there that might lead her to a final reckoning with Dalius; but only if her new-found people-skills would gain her the trust of a reclusive clan.

But even then, the story wasn't done!  After all that, Aelis was met in town with Wardens come from the big city with a demand that she accompany them immediately.  And this is where we see a full display of how much Aelis has changed and grown with the town and people who are her responsibility.  Those arrogant Wardens and their orders don't impress her as they might have earlier.  In her mind, her town and people took precedent.  But, the demand isn't unreasonable and she finds she has reason to go; it will give her a chance to talk with other experts and use the library to find a solution to that eternal prison mentioned earlier. 

This was a superb plot.  Each twist led to the next quite logically. And each time the gentle reader might expect the story to end, the next thing appeared.  The end was obviously a setup for the next story; almost a cliffhanger.  But this reader didn't mind a bit; I am so stoked to read the next book which is already in my TBR pile.  And I feel impelled to make an observation about a female character being written by a man: the sexual relationship between Aelis and Maurenia serves to cement their relationship and the author wisely leaves the erotic detail to the reader's imagination and tends to skip right to the post-coital snuggling.  Thank you to the author for not being tempted to make this a romantasy.  It's just a really solid piece of fantasy work with intriguing characters.

I would nitpick the author on one little thing.  In the story, he relates that while Tun and Aelis were traveling, they skirted a town called Ham's Thorpe.  I just looked at the map illustration again and that description isn't accurate.  Since Ham's Thorpe is on the other side of a river, there wasn't any real skirting going on. I'm also waiting to see how that town will matter in the next story because it had no place in this story.   ~~ Catherine Book

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