Long ago, the Monarch Northstrider created a world of his own. This pocket world, Ghostwater, is where he kept some of his most valuable items; however, that pocket world is now dying. The stability of that world was damaged in the events of the last book, and the Skysworn are determined to retrieve some of the valuables before they are gone. It is not clear how long that world has left, but Lindon, Yerin, and Mercy are all part of the team sent to retrieve those items. It doesn't take long for them to become separated, leaving Yerin and Mercy stuck outside, with Lindon trapped on his own inside the dying world. So is this a worthy story or is it just a contrived way to split off Lindon and send him on a side quest that allows him to catch up in power to Yerin?

It's more of the latter, but there are still some events of significance that take place. In addition to Lindon's growth, Orthos experiences a bit of a renaissance that will allow him to play a more impactful role going forward, and yet another personality enters into Lindon's little menagerie, this time a sentient construct named Dross. By the time this little side adventure comes to an end, Lindon and Yerin are both higher ranked sacred artists, but Lindon has once again undeservedly added another new enemy to his list. Not to mention that not everyone sent out on this expedition makes it back alive, and that will not go unnoticed by the Skysworn. So this may not have been the strongest entry in the series, but it does keep things moving along. I hope at some point Lindon's progression starts to feel like he is earning it, because right now it feels like he takes one shortcut after another, and that cheapens it for me.

Travis Baldree keeps up his solid narration work on the audiobook version.