I loved The Waking Fire, the first book of this series – it sent me into an Anthony Ryan binge and I read his previous series as well (review coming eventually). I was glad that I’d read it so close to the release date of the next book so I didn’t have to wait too long to find out what happens next.

The Legion of Flame picks up pretty much where The Waking Fire left off and continues to follow Lizanne, Clay, and Hilemore. Lizanne is back home and is immediately sent on a spy/peace mission to the Corvantine Empire. Clay and Hilemore are still in Arradasia and are voyaging to the South Pole in an attempt to figure out how to save the world from the increasingly more likely dragon apocalypse. We also have some new PoV characters that provide more insight into the White dragon’s plans, I won’t say more about them to avoid spoilers.

I always find it hard to review sequels since (usually) pretty much everything about the first book applies to the sequel as well and I wouldn’t be reading the book at all if I hadn’t liked the first book. The Legion of Flame definitely expands the world, we see Mandinor and more of the Corvantine Empire (we do still have some insight into what’s happening in Arradasia though the new viewpoints). We learn more about dragons, their origins, and the history of the world, which I thought was pretty cool. I had some guesses about that and I was glad to see them vindicated.

My favorite plotline in the book was probably Lizanne’s, her mission has a very Escape from New York vibe to it and it’s fun to see her badassery grow. Clay and Hilemore get the more interesting worldbuilding though, and I liked that each of the viewpoints told a different kind of story. There are also some in-universe newspaper articles, etc. at various points, and I always enjoy those.

Overall, I thought The Legion of Flame was a solid sequel. However it does end on a cliffhanger, so I’m impatiently waiting for book 3.

The Legion of Flame by Anthony Ryan (The Draconis Memoria, #2)
Ace Books, 2017 | Buy the book
I received a free review copy of this book from the publisher or author.

I’ve been binge reading the Dresden Files for the last month, and whenever I read a long series that I get really into, I almost invariably dislike the next book I read because it can’t compare to the bond I’ve built with the characters I’ve spent so much time with recently. The Guns Above is one of those few books that put the “almost” in the previous sentence, because despite the odds, I really liked it.

Josette Dupre has just become the first female airship captain in the history of the Garnian military, promoted for her distinction in battle by direct order of the king. This doesn’t sit too well with the the general in charge of the ongoing war and her new command ends up being an untested and probably dangerous airship. To make matters worse, she is ordered to take the general’s nephew, Lord Bernat, along as an observer on her mission to and she knows that his job is to report her behavior unfavorably no matter what she does.

This book reminded me a lot of the Shadow Campaigns series by Django Wexler – they have a similar technology level (minus the airships), and both are about women who are soldiers above everything else. The airships and how they work are described in loving detail, and it helps make the world feel lived-in. The plot is fairly basic, but it feels exciting because there’s a lot of action that’s very well done and uses the airships in ways unique to their design.

I am often skeptical of steampunk books because I’ve read a few of them that are great about describing the technology and world, but don’t do a great job with the characters. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that characterization was one of this book’s biggest strengths. All the characters seem like normal people, admirable in some ways, deeply annoying in others, and very relatable overall. Bernat is an insufferable jerk and never really ceases being one, but the author somehow manages to make him lovable somehow. Josette is witty, courageous, and determined to a fault, but the flip side of that is that her single-mindedness makes her pretty scary and/or mean on occasion. And even though she is relentless in the air, she’s still vulnerable when facing people with the power to take away what she loves. Both Josette and Bernat are both viewpoint characters, which is fun because for most of the book, they’re never more than a few feet from each other and so we’re getting wildly different perspectives on the same events in real time.

The Guns Above is the first of a series, but you wouldn’t know that from the ending, it tells a complete story without any cliffhangers. And it’s a debut novel, which I wouldn’t have guessed from how polished it is. I’ll definitely be reading further books in the series.

The Guns Above by Robyn Bennis (Signal Airship, #1)
Tor Books, 2017 | Buy the book
I received a free review copy of this book from the publisher or author.