An Ill Fated Sky by Darrell Drake

           "She had long ago learned that the world has a habit of throwing you a bone - or an egg-to keep you suffering another day. She had thereafter concluded suffering was the currency of the universe. Why else would the luminaries wage their eternal wars? Or mortals for that matter? Some would claim it is the work of the Lie, of Ahriman, and she surrendered that point. Be that as it may, the nature of the currency went unchanged."

         My least favorite character in the first book of the series (A Star Reckoner's Lot) was Tirdad, so it's no wonder that I waited for over a year to read the sequel that follows his life. But oh, how wrong I was, and I so wish that I hadn't put it off for so long. Before I get started I need to warn you that this review has some pretty mighty spoilers for the first book, and the first book is well worth reading, so skip this review and go check it out! (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36233593-a-star-reckoner-s-lot)

         Now for the rest of the review:

        An Ill Fated Sky starts exactly where A Star Reckoner's lot ended, with Ashtadukht dying and leaving us alone with boring, honorable Tirdad, and he's in pretty bad shape. Not only is he alone and emotionally destroyed over murdering his cousin, but he's also somehow inherited her planet reckoning abilities through the sword that killed her.

       "When at last he eased her to the floor it was with great reluctance, withdrawing his sword from her heart as he did. So focused on committing her face to memory, he didn't notice the magpie-black oil that clung to his blade until it was pulled free." 

      "The room he was in retreated from view as if slinking away from the solar system that stormed in the stars and planets blazoned. Some cosmic awareness rushed over him, bringing with the theatre of the luminaries."

      What happens next is hard to tell without spoilers, and minor as they may be, it can still change some of the feelings that you have while reading the book. So I'm going to keep my summary of the plot as is. In the end I found myself becoming way more attached to the character of Tirdad than I thought I would be. In the first book I found it difficult to become attached to anyone that wasn't Waray, but An Ill Fated Sky brought all three of it's main characters to life. I loved them all and felt a real connection with Tirdad. Life can be dark and full of suffering, but if you have the ones you love by your side, none of that matters. This is a love story, a redemption story, and a bloody, epic adventure all rolled into one. I can't wait to see where the next book leads.

       "He had never been anyone special, never capable of genius or impressive feats, sentenced to obscurity or worse since birth. But that he could bring to her life these pockets of happiness - that was enough."