Ruin of Angels

The sixth book in The Craft Sequence returns to Kai, adding a nice level of symmetry to the series, even if this book is setting on a new era. We now have two books about Tara in Alt Coloumb, two about Caleb Altemoc and his father in Dresedial Lex, and now two about Kai and Izza and the Blue Lady from Kavekana, though this book doesn't take place in Kavekana.

Ruin of Angels sees Kai and Izza travel to Agdel Lex, a new city that the Iskari imposed on the ruins of Alikand after the God Wars. But Alikand is still there, hidden beneath and behind and around the forced order of Agdel Lex. And beneath both of them is the dead city, where the wars are still going on, frozen in a single moment.

This is a book about dualities. About the many faces a single person takes on in different situations. About the many different places a single city can be. About history seen from multiple points of view. It's about a pair of sisters who don't entirely know how to relate to each other or the people around them. It's about a whole bunch of isolated people learning to make connections with each other, and the strength those connections lend when they're based on real respect and admiration and common goals, rather than the forced and false connections imposed by an external party trying to force people to live up to their vision.

At it's heart this is a book about colonialism and imperialism and all the people that get caught in the middle when one culture attempts to crush another.

It's also a book with heists and space travel. Because Gladstone can't resist throwing as much as he can at these book. Kevin calls them over stuffed, but I think they're stuffed just the right amount. Gladstone is good at bringing all his threads together anyway.

I have to wait, now, for Gladstone to release the next book in this series, which is a mixed bag. I want it now, but that sense of anticipation also lends a little sweetness to the waiting. And in the meantime it'll give me a chance to re-read the series, which I'm sure will reveal more layers.

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