First of a trilogy, this book is a little slow to start, but it needs to be to introduce the various groups of characters and lead up to their meeting.
The land of Ile Rien, where magic works alongside technology, is under attack by a foe they call the Gardier. The Gardier seem immune to the effects of both magic and tech, the Rienish know next to nothing about them and they aren't far from conquering the whole country with their mysterious airships.
Tremaine Valiarde, daughter of Nicholas and Madeline from The Death of the Necromancer becomes involved in a last ditch effort to fend off the invasion, which also seems to offer the chance to discover what happened to her father and Arisilde Damal, his sorcerer friend, who disappeared some years before.
I very much took to the world Wells created in The Death of the Necromancer and was keen to revisit it, although much of this book is spent outside Ile-Rien itself. The plot was slow to start, but the characters make up for that and I like the sardonic humour which Tremaine seems to have inherited from her father.
Although this is the first book of a trilogy it has a satisfying ending and wraps several things up nicely, while giving polarity of room for the next book to expand on matters. Very much looking forward to finding out what happens next.
