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This book was recommended in a Facebook group of fans of Space Opera. GIven the review in the recommendation, the ad copy in iBooks, and the low price, I grabbed a copy without reading the "sample" I could have downloaded. I was unprepared that the story would involve significant amounts of magic right from the start. And the first chapter was all about drivers of magic-fueled racing cars, which are not a stale of the space opera I thought I had purchased. I almost put the book down at that point, but the first main character we meet, Nilah, is thrust into a tantalizing mystery that compelled me to keep reading. In the second chapter, the character of "Boots" is introduced, a garrulous and embittered veteran of a war in which she fought for the losing side, she now is making her living selling treasure maps to gullible treasure seekers. She too gets thrust into the same mystery. The story spirals nearly out of control at that point, with both of them being captured by the crew of a pirate ship (that Boots once served on and sold a bogus map to), and still being pursued by an overwhelmingly powerful and relentless foe. It certainly turns into a grand space opera yarn at that point, with lots of action, perilous conflict, personal sacrifice, and yes, magical feats. I especially enjoyed the fact that the good guys employ heaping amounts of intelligence and ingenuity rather than simply blowing through their opponents with superior firepower. They are smart, capable people facing down formidable odds. The book has a thoroughly (to me) satisfactory ending while leaving some major threads open for the follow-up books. I enjoyed it a lot more than I had expected after the first chapter.

I mostly enjoyed this book. Having read the Black Mage trilogy a few years back, I enjoyed stepping back into the world, and seeing how some of the details in that trilogy were originally instituted. The story was satisfactorily concluded.

That said, there was one area that greatly disappointed me. And here begin some significant spoilers! In the last third of the book, a minor character is revealed to be homosexual. Kachiro is handled in a compassionate way despite living in a culture that is very hostile to homosexuality. Though married to a more prominent female character, he has a younger male lover who the wife knows about and accepts. Then the story veers directly into the distasteful “bury your gays” trope when the young lover is murdered with absolutely no reason or perpetrator revealed. It’s tragic for no purpose and does nothing for the story. Worse, in his moment of ultimate grief, his loving wife chooses that moment to lead a group of women to safety from the war that had arrived in the city. And then he is not seen again. It left me feeling disturbingly cold after warming to the revelation that queer folk actually exist in this fantasy world. And it makes me hesitant to read later works by Ms. Canavan.