This is the second in the 'Theft and Sorcery' series. I really enjoyed
the first book, 'The Ritual', and this one is even better. It's not
serious or grimdark or heavy or profound, but it is a whole lot of fun.
It wouldn't be everyone's cup of tea, let's get that straight right from
the start; there's a fair amount of graphic sex, although nothing kinky
or disturbing to my eyes, and there's swearing of a similarly earthy
nature, so anyone who's bothered by that should steer clear.
Although this book is essentially a stand-alone, it is directly
connected to the first book, but set some sixty years later. The two
main characters in 'The Ritual', Rin and Zash, turn up again here in a
minor role. Being half-elves themselves, a sixty year gap makes them
still young and active, not pensioners. The main leads, Sita, the first
person point of view, and Kai, both half-elves, are new characters here.
Last time, Rin was the thief and Zash a sorcerer, but this time both
Kai and Sita are thieves, and Kai is also a sorcerer, a nice twist. The
two meet while both are trying to burgle the royal palace, the joke
being that Sita actually lives there, but she is being trained on the
queen's instructions in various nefarious pursuits, as well as forms of
combat.
This
is a romance, first and foremost, but that doesn't mean that the
fantasy element is perfunctory. The world-building has ramped up
somewhat from the first book, where it felt decidedly sketchy. This
time, the author fleshes out the political element, and a conspiracy by
the various high magistrates (kind of like dukes, ruling a domain of
their own) to assassinate the queen. Sita is part of a group sent off
with the heir to the throne, Tio; his role is to make a royal tour of
the kingdom and cosy up to the magistrates, and hers is to uncover
evidence of the conspiracy. As they travel through the countryside,
there is some interesting detail of the economic strengths of each one.
It isn't very complicated - the coast has fish, the mountains have
mines, the warm south has vineyards - but it serves to make the world
feel more fleshed out and realistic.
The other aspect that I
found interesting is the three races - elf, human and half-elf. In the
previous book, elves ran everything, humans filled the equivalent of the
middle classes and half-elves were mostly slaves. The end of the story
saw a change, with the incoming queen giving all the half-elves
citizenship. In this book, we find (unsurprisingly) that not everyone is
happy with that situation (hence the assassination plot), and that
things are a lot more complicated than they seem. Since elves have low
fertility, humans breed like the proverbial rabbits (contraception seems
to be unheard of) and half-elves are infertile, there's a lot of
potential for sexual exploitation. Male elves in this world are horny
devils, and have a thing for human women, hence the numbers of
half-elves. This book explores some of the uneasy relationships between
the races.
The plot rattles along beautifully. There's plenty of
action, some truly dramatic moments and a scary twist at the end - one
of those phew-we're-all-safe-oh-no! moments. And yes, of course there's a
happy ever after at the end (this is a romance, after all), but there
were quite a few heart-stopping, page-turning, gotta-keep-reading
incidents along the way. The magic is nothing unusual - muttered
incantations, hand-waviness, almost anything goes, although the user
gets tired so there is a price to pay. I liked some of Kai's illusions,
though; the coloured light thingies sounded lovely. So as a fantasy,
this holds up very well.
What about the romance side of things?
Short answer - terrific. The relationship between Sita and Kai is
perfectly believable, the obstacles (an essential component of any
romance) were realistic, even the instant attraction is nicely done. I
have to say that Kai is one of the most charming heroes I've ever
encountered, with none of the smug arrogance that so often characterises
the male lead these days. There were moments when Sita was pushing him
away and I was muttering: look, if you don't want him, dear, send him my
way. You just don't find blokes as nice as that too often. I had slight
issues with him turning out so well after the sort of experiences he'd
had, but let's not quibble over that. The sex was well written without
being over the top, and there were some moments of pure romance that
were perfectly lovely (sigh...). One other aspect that struck me - even
though our athletic heroes spent a lot of time screwing each other
silly, and the early encounters were given in great detail, the author
was restrained enough to skip much of the graphic description for the
later episodes, so it never became overly repetitive.
I do have
some issues with the morality question. In the first book, the main
characters were thieves almost by necessity, since the alternative was
slavery. Here, Kai is a thief from choice, and although he attempts to
justify that (he only steals one or two items from those rich enough to
afford it), it's still fairly questionable. More seriously, there is a
point when our heroes decide to kill a number of guards in order to free
a lot of slaves. The author doesn't avoid the issue, showing the
characters' unease with the decision, but it still made me
uncomfortable. The guards were, after all, just paid employees following
their boss's orders, not the enemy in a war, and it seemed extreme to
kill them. I would have liked it better if a more subtle way could have
been found to free them. But it's a minor point.
This was a
hugely enjoyable read that had me grinning from ear to ear at times, and
was also an exciting page turner. It's not deep, and the characters
fall neatly into the good or evil columns (no shades of grey here, moral
ambiguities aside), but it's a lot of fun, and both the romance and
fantasy elements work very well. Recommended for anyone who enjoys their
fantasy entertaining and fast-paced, with a hefty dollop of sex thrown
in. A good four stars.
[Edited to remove spoiler - oops!]
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