4.5 stars

The second Craft Sequence book takes us to a different place and time in the Craft World. Leaving Alt Coulomb, the setting for the first book, we arrive in Dresdiel Lex, with a burgeoning population of 17 million people, struggling to survive on rapidly diminishing resources. The methods of their short-term survival are secured by truly abominable means. The protagonist of this volume, Caleb Altemoc, struggles with the realities of this world and with his painful family history. Caleb is the fulcrum for change but how that change can be safely and morally achieved is the unsettling question he wrestles with throughout this book.

Gladstone has built a complex and impressive world in these books. Magic comes with contractual boundaries and obligations in the Craft world. Rules and reciprocity dictate almost everything.

One of the things I like best about Gladstone's protagonists is that they always seem to end up in an "outside the box" resolution. The depth of motivation for some of the other central characters is a cautionary tale, however.

As to my overall feelings about this book, I like Caleb (and Teo) but I do miss Tara!

Onward to Full Fathom Five.