Demir Grappo is a powerful glassdancer and a successful military leader, even at his young age. Despite these innate talents and abilities, he has a solid moral compass and he shows unusual compassion to the rebellious factions that he is sent to put down. Such talent and promise breeds jealousy, and when a political rival maneuvers to turn his greatest military victory into a bloody massacre caused by his own troops, he mentally breaks. The emotional toll of what happened under his command is just too much to bear and Demir walks away from everything, including his eventual inheritance, to live out his life as a grifter. That is until his mother, a powerful political figure and head of his family, is murdered on the city streets. Demir returns from exile to use the resources of his family to uncover the truth about his mother's murder, and of course things get complicated very quickly.

Demir must leverage his own skills, as well as relying on his old friends, to uncover the truth, and when he does, he finds himself embroiled in a conspiracy that threatens societal structure itself. Godglass, the substance used by glassdancers to power their vast array of magical abilities, is running out, and that fact has been kept hidden by those in power, including his own mother. Now a behind the scenes war is underway to secure the remaining stores of godglass, or find a way to renew spent pieces, to ensure a powerful magical advantage when the fighting inevitably begins. A war is coming and Demir, along with a few a his friends, might be the only voices of reason who aren't solely out for themselves.

Brian McClellan has a winner on his hands here as he has crafted a world and magic system on par with the likes of Brandon Sanderson. The characters here are worth investing in and the world itself has many interesting layers. I thoroughly enjoyed this first book in the Glass Immortals series and I can't wait for the next one. There is also a small novella available that provides background to one of the main characters, Montego, who is indeed worthy of his own book - I only wish it was full length. So if you are willing to start a new fantasy series that isn't finished yet then this one should be near the top of your list.

The audiobook is voiced by Damian Lynch and he does a great job of bringing all the characters to life. That makes this one a good choice for listening over reading.