In this second entry in the author’s Splintered World fantasy saga, readers are transported to the Red Desert / Great Divide Basin area of Wyoming, which has settlements but no modern cities; there is barter and trade but no technology. It’s a place where some people develop superpowers, exerting control over elements like air or water. These “capabilities” range from very simple to powerfully complex, and Moyer’s main characters in the first volume had to learn how to wield these powers, just as they had to learn all the ways of the splintered world: from human dangers, to animal-world predators, to simple wilderness survival. An element carried over from the first volume becomes even more important in the second: Through a very tricky palm-to-palm process, “simple” capabilities can be transferred. Blending even two capabilities can be dangerous, and in this installment, the main character, a young man named Esah, is somehow balancing three. “You should be dead. Or catatonic,” says Hoda, a veteran of this splinter world and instructor of new arrivals. “Or tearing yourself apart as the capabilities fight for dominance.” Ama’s water-oriented capabilities also set her apart in this new world and eventually make her a valuable member of Esah’s community. Along with other allies and friends, they encounter a sinister Authority that’s trafficking in “simples” and artificially limiting the abilities of everybody within their range.
Moyer neatly avoids both major dangers of second novels in any series: He smoothly handles recapping the first volume, and he infuses this second story with a fresh and intense narrative energy that shows no signs of the dreaded “sophomore slump.” The workings of the splinter world are further explored in detail as the characters increasingly learn about their own abilities as well as the dark secrets of the splinter world itself. The first volume in the series had the inevitable focus on raw survival; Esah and Ama were desperate to learn the rules of their brutal new surroundings and master the basics of how to live with their burgeoning supernatural abilities. In the second volume, Esah and Ama grow increasingly curious to understand how the oddities of this new world actually work. What are capabilities? Why do so many newly splintered people feel biologically tethered to the area where they first appeared? How does splintering itself actually work? Moyer takes on this job of enhanced worldbuilding with adept pacing and a natural unfolding of plot and character. Likewise, this volume’s threat is an organization called the Authority that uses carefully crafted “suppression stones” to control supernatural capabilities and suppress the unbounded people who call themselves Kindling. “The Authority wants you thinking foundation capabilities make you lesser,” one character explains. “Being Kindling makes you free, but they need you believing advancement means combining elements, compounding.” The fact that the characters are working things out piecemeal for themselves draws readers into the story in a natural way. As the main characters’ curiosity intensifies in the story, readers will also be hooked in, eager for the next volume in the series.