As they’re jockeying for interpersonal power, Mandip and Thibaut encounter Juliet, a popular opera singer. Mandip, due to his petty nature, sweeps up his cousin’s escort, who just so happens to be Thibaut, a.k.a.

Being a twin and being noble means that Mandip and his brother are also in line to take over rulership of the city/region of Lutador. Two of the Five God’s are twins so, twins are revered. He’s also a twin, which in this world is special. Krona lets her sister’s echo merge with her own identity, which is dangerous. Krona possesses the mask made from her sister’s soul, and though Krona specializes in suppressing the echoes inherent in masks made from the dead, she fails when it comes to her sister’s echo. She grieves the death of her older sister, and in her free time, she’s attempting to find ways to connect with her. Krona watches inside her Regulator armor, all the while knowing that she’s guilty of the exact same crime. This particular punishment comes from Knowledge, and it is the removal of a hand. She’s overseeing a punishment for people who broke one of the five gods’s laws. Next readers once again meet Krona, from The Helm of Midnight. This the readers first view of the abusive tyrant that is Gerome. But as Thalo Child is only a child, he’s caught by his overseer, who removes those memories from the other children all together, leaving Thalo child with the guilt of knowing his kindness led to the loss of their cherished moments. (It’ll come off eventually.) In attempt to soothe the nervous children, Thalo Child uses his magic to bring up a good memory for each child to experience during the ritual. He walks with the procession as six year old children are led to altars to place cement on their eyes. Thalo Child opens the book by being part of a Thalo ritual. The Cage of Dark Hours by Marina Lostetter was not what I was expecting from a second book in a series, but it was exactly what I wanted. This excellent followup to The Helm of Midnight takes the mythological creatures from book one and explores them in a depth and detail that I wasn’t prepared for. She doesn’t just build upon the foundation of the first book, she’s dives straight into the mythology and attacks it.

The Cage of Dark Hours by Marina Lostetter does more than this.

After all, it has to build on the world and story of the first book, develop existing characters while introducing new ones, and grab the reader without overshadowing a potentially amazing finale. Does the first book take off? If so, will the author end it with a bang? Second books don’t quite get the love that they deserve, and there is an argument to be made for it being more important than the other books. Trilogies are the staple of the fantasy genre, and most of the attention is paid either to book one or three. Tolkien, the stereotypical impression of fantasy are big books that come in three.

The starless crown review