Days of Shattered Faith

The third in the “Tyrant Philosophers” series, “Days of Shattered Faith” takes us to afar-flung place where the Palleseen Sway doesn’t yet have the iron grip it enjoyed over the characters and places of the last two novels. This provides the author with a marvelous opportunity to show us more of the world and exactly how badly the Temporary Commission for Ends and Means has fucked up perfectly functional civilisations in their greed for magic to fuel their continued expansion.

I love that this book is as immersive as possible with regard to showing you the foibles, practices, and history of Usmai and the Usmiat people, showing you how things work without explicitly explaining any more than is needed to understand the unfolding plot. This naturally also lends to humour when a character not familiar with the practices of the region (they didn’t even read the briefing dossier!) experiences traditions that spring richly from the page while also being utterly alien to a good Palleseen.

The characters are all well drawn, and the author does exceptionally well at giving you each character’s viewpoint in such a way that you can simultaneously sympathise with characters who have diametrically opposing viewpoints, and the ways in which both of them are partially right and wrong at the same time. It’s all very messy and human, and makes for a rollicking good read.

While the book takes the perspective of several characters through the story, everything feels more tightly woven and plotted than “City of Last chances”, although that’s partly because it’s building on the worldbuilding of the previous two novels and everything makes more sense.

It also helps that we see some familiar faces and continuing story threads in this book – though perhaps not ones you might have been expecting!

This novel managed the difficult balancing act of concluding in a highly satisfying fashion while also leaving me wanting more, a frond of tantalising threads carefully teased and left standing proud of the novel’s weft and warp to make me eagerly anticipate the next book.

It’s hard to say much more without venturing into potential spoilers territory, so let me finish this review by simply saying that “Days of Shattered Faith” is a real page-turner, a wonderful escape from the dreariness of autumn or winter to a sun-soaked land full of drama, humour, and a good few characters it’s a delight to despise.

This book is highly recommended for existing fans of the series; I think newcomers will be able to enjoy it as a standalone novel, but a reader who’s read the other books will get far more out of this one.