Excellent follow-up to an excellent book.
I loved book 1 of Burningblade & Silvereye, Ashes of the Sun. It had a lot going for it. The two protagonists were both likeable, compassionate, and compelling; being both siblings and on opposite sides made it really something great. The worldbuilding was both original and deep, with lots of fun eldritch abominations and ancient ruins and all that good stuff. And the story was just plain fun.
We get much the same in Blood of the Chosen. Gyre and Maya have gone their separate ways after the end of the first book, but still stick to their convictions. Maya believes that the Republic and the Centarchs (of which she is one) preserve civilization and keep people safe from plaguespawn. She’s still correct. Gyre views the Centarchs and the Republic as a tyranny, keeping humanity beholden to the vision of a race long dead and allowing no challengers to their power. He is also still correct.
Things aren’t quite as perfectly balanced as in the first book, largely because Maya is on the trail of corruption within her order. Necessarily, things aren’t quite as even-handed when Maya is looking at the Centarchs askance herself. But the overall balance remains: Maya wants to deal with the corruption and keep the Order to its purpose, while Gyre still wants to bring it down. He doesn’t want to cause chaos and mass death while doing so, but his determination remains.
Maya and Beq are still adorable. Varo is still hilarious. Gyre has the same goal, but a new plan to get it. (As an aside, I find the trope of rebel factions squabbling amongst themselves over the most petty things when they should be focusing their efforts on their collective enemy endlessly hilarious. How much Gyre wanted to tear his hair out over it just makes it even better).
My only real complaint is the ending. Not that there’s anything bad about the ending - quite the opposite, it was awesome - but because I don’t have book 3 yet.
Highly recommended.
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