Continuing from where The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms left, we now follow the story of Oree Shoth and her somewhat accidental companion Shiny.

The story happens ten years after the events of the first Inheritance Trilogy book, and it's definitely mandatory reading before this book. Unfortunately, if you have read the first book, some parts of this one will be very predictable.

The pacing of the book is off: about half of the books seems to be just an introduction to Oree and the current situation in Shadow. Events seem... external. Even when Oree is the center of the action, everything seems somehow removed. Maybe this is meant to reflect Oree's take on the situation as a blind person - but on the other hand, Oree seems to be magnificently capable of navigating evereywhere, even in unknown places and situations.

In the end I'm somewhat torn; I liked the first book and I still enjoyed reading this one, but I also found myself time and time again hoping that there would be some kind, any kind of development.