After the events of book one, Prince Josua finds himself on the run with his small band of supporters, while his brother, King Elias, expands his evil influence across more of Osten Ard. Simon, on the other hand, is swept up by his pursuit of ancient prophecy as he seeks out the Stone of Farewell, where he hopes to deliver the sword Thorn to Josua. And finally, the King's daughter Miriamele, also remains on the run and hidden from her father, but not from other parties who hope to prosper from her capture. These three PoV characters are all running from pursuit across the land of Osten Ard and they become the lens through which we get to experience the diverse locations that exist and the peoples that inhabit these lands. This book is more about world building than anything else, and it reveals how the current war was shaped not just by the characters we know, but also by many of the key figures from the history of Orsten Ard.

This book doesn't actually accomplish much from a plot perspective, but it does build upon the strengths of the first book and really fills out the world and the people that live within it. The reader gets to learn more about the Sithi and the trolls, and it becomes a bit more obvious how the racial tensions of the land have evolved over the years. This is certainly a slow burn and not for everyone, but it is a solid epic fantasy series that takes its time revealing what it has to offer. Book one was uneven enough for me to doubt the series as a whole, but this book solidifies it as something worth experiencing. This was originally a four book series, but it is now offered as a trilogy with the final book being a massive volume that combines the original books 3 and 4. That means there is still a lot of story telling left to be done in this series.

Andrew Wincott does a solid job on the narration of this book, and he creatively voices a wide array of characters and races and seems like a good fit for the series.