Rating: WORTHY!
This takes place two years on from what's come to be known as 'the Night of the Red Stars' which was seen during the great battle at the Elinarch bridge. Tavi has been fending-off attacks from the Canim throughout this time. At the instigation of Lady Invidia Aquitaine, Senator Arnos arrives to take over command. Lady Aquitaine's ultimate plan is to have Tavi removed from his command, so Tavi helps that along immensely by meeting with Nasaug, the Canim leader. Due to his spying activities, Tavi knows that Nasaug is trying to build ships so the Canim can return to their homeland, and he arranges with the Canim leader to help him by returning the Canim Ambassador Varg, who is currently imprisoned.
Tavi is arrested for conspiring with the enemy, but he escapes and boards a ship to Alkera Imperia, the capital. traveling with him are Isana, Kitai, Ehren, and Araris. They're pursued by Arnos’s men, but they use fury-crafting to kill the 'witchmen' whose sole value is keeping the violently intolerant leviathans unaware of their presence on the ocean. Once the witchmen are dead, the leviathans trash their pursuer's ship.
It's at this point that Tavi's aunt Isana comes back into the story with full force. She finds that her water-crafting has grown immensely. More importantly to her, she has been trying to tell Tavi who he really is. In the end, it was left to Fade, now know as Araris, to tell him that Isana is not his aunt - she's his mother. His father is the son of Lord Gaius, the First Lord and therefore, Tavi is next in line to the throne of Alera!
Meanwhile the First Lord himself enters the battle big time, and he arranges for Count Bernard and Lady Amara to travel with him, in total secrecy, to Kalare's lands. Until he gets to where he needs to be - a place where he can quiet the massive fury which Kalare has awoken, and which must be quieted before it kills thousands - he must not use his powers, so everything is on Bernard and Amara to take care of him, including the blister he gets on his feet.
When they arrive, the First Lord does the opposite of what he said - instead of quieting the fury, he awakens it, causing a massive volcanic eruption, which destroys the Kalarean capital and kills thousands. Amara is so pissed off with him that she throws his coin - the one which empowers her to be his cursor - in his face and quits on him on the spot.
Tavi frees Varg and returns him to his people. He choses that moment to declare that he is Gaius Octavian. grandson of the First Lord, and he challenges Senator Arnos to a 'Juris Macto' - a duel of honor. Unfortunately for Tavi, Arnos choses a representative to fight in his stead: Pharygiar Navaris, the deadliest man in Alera.
Fidelias, now known as Marcus, the man who betrayed Amara in vol one of this series, is tasked by the Lady Aquitaine to kill Tavi in the unlikely event that he wins. He does win, but Fidelius now betrays her. He fires the balest - a huge cross-bow like bolt, into Arnos and Aquitaine at once, as they are standing one behind the other. It looks like a Canim assasination, since this is their weapon of choice. Lady Aquitaine survives the wound, but since the bolt has been poisoned, she does not have long to live. Or does she?
Tavi manages to talk the First Lord into allowing the Canim safe passage back to their own land. They build ice ships to travel in, and Tavi and his usual crew go with them. Another worthy read!
