The Ships of Air by Martha Wells

[niko]

Truthfully, I'm not sure how objective I can be about this book.  I enjoyed it.  A lot.  Not just in a "Wow, good book." way, but in the "OMG! I have a new fandom and why the hell can't I find any Giliead/Ilias slash!" way.  I may not be overly rational in this. :)

That being said...

Excellent second book in the series.  After doing a lot of set-up work in "The Wizard Hunters" to establish her characters, the two worlds they live in, and the Gardier threat both worlds face, Wells slows down the pace a bit, letting the characters have a little breathing room as they deal with somewhat less immediate dangers, punctuated with sudden bursts of action.  It's an approach that gives her brilliant character-work a chance to shine, and the results are a fangirlish delight. :)

The story picks up right where "The Wizard Hunters" ended, with Tremaine and her allies having reached the relative safety of the Ravenna, a passenger liner from Tremaine's world that has been used to evacuate civilians and important personnel to the Syprian world just as the Gardier seem poised to completely overrun Tremaine's homeland.  After negotiating a somewhat tentative (and surprising!) alliance with the Syprian people, the ship heads towards a point where they will be able to gate back to a safer locale in their own world, but the trip does not go smoothly as the group must deal with an incursion from a Gardier agent and, later, invade a Gardier outpost that stands between the /Ravenna/ and her goal.  This raid really sets things in motion, and Tremain, Illias, and their allies take an unexpected trip into enemy territory that nets them new information about the Gardier menace.  Along the way, Tremaine is also reunited with a familiar face from her past, and Giliead is forced to further break his people's most deeply ingrained taboos to save them all...putting his own position as the Syprian god's "Chosen Vessel" at risk.

The storyline, overall, is quite good, with Wells' usual knack for creating worlds that don't fall into pseudo-medieval fantasyland stereotypes.  But where the series really shines is in the characters.  Tremaine is just an absolute joy with her snark and insecurities and attitude and the fact that she's not the *best* person for most of what she gets herself into, but she gets the job done anyway.  And the Ilias & Giliead combo is just a buddy-ficcer's dream.  It's really remarkable how clearly Wells paints their relationship with little moments of rough-housing or angsty looks or shared jokes - none of it in a flashy way, but just a natural part of their interaction.  There's so much history to all of these characters, and I love that Wells is able to evoke the full force of that without ever losing stride.

*happy sigh*

(For the record, I have found one marvelous fanfic so far.  Highly recommended.)