A perpetual chase.

This is the second volume of the Tears of Artamon (after Lord of Snow and Shadows and before Children of the Serpent Gate).

After the terrible battle in Azhkendir, Eugene is disfigured but alive, and asks Astasia to marry him. Seeing her Duchy going to pieces and fearing for her parents' sanity, she has little choice but to comply. The empire of New Rossiya is created.

Knowing that Gavril has cast out the dragon and is no longer a threat, Eugene takes the opportunity to seek revenge on the man who maimed him. Gavril is condemned and imprisoned in the Ironsea Tower, an asylum for the insane on the jagged and desolate cliffs of Arnskammar. How long can he resist calling the Drakhaoul to his rescue?

In the meantime, Gavril's mother Elysia travels back to her home in Smarna and kindles the flames of rebellion, while Kiukiu is sweet-talked by Kaspar Linnaius into helping Eugene find the way to Ty Nagar, where the Drakhaons are waiting for their release. The vicious Magus will leave her lost in the Ways Beyond.

In opposition to the first volume where I felt trapped with the heroes and struggling with them, in this book I was rather watching from afar. For me this middle-volume can be summarized as a perpetual chase, with characters repeatedly looking for others where they're not, and relatively few relevant events happening in the end. I did enjoy the court intrigue between Empress Astasia and the Francian singer Celestine, though, and hope the third part will grip me as much as the first one did.

8/10