Royal Airs by Sharon Shinn

hardcover, published Ace November 2013. Sequel to Troubled Waters but would I should think, be perfectly readable as a stand alone.

I was delighted to receive this as a birthday present since I’d really enjoyed the previous one about Zoe Andelay and hoped she be in this one. She was, as were two of the princesses, and a number of other characters from Troubled Waters, because this appears to be a direct sequel. Some five years have passed and Princesses Josetta and Corene have grown up. Zoe is married to Darian and has a baby, and life in their country continues to jog along. That is until the author introduces Rafe Adova, gambler, with mysterious antecedants about which he himself knows nothing, and a procession of would-be assassins pursuing him, about whom he knows all too well. This book was a full-on, non-stop gallop. between the question of the Royal Succession, the developement of powered land vehicles and the beginning of powered air ones, the machinations of Alys, Corene’s mother, the political problems caused by other countries, the on-going questions about Rafe, and the arrival of his younger brother Steff,  there’s never a dull moment. I throughly enjoyed this book and recommend both it and Troubled Waters. (Note – while Troubled Waters had an apparently definite ending, Royal Airs  has left a number of hooks open, almost demanding a third in the series – I do hope we see it.)

 

 

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