NIGHTWATCH OVER WINDSCAR

Iari, Gaer, and company investigate a supposedly haunted cave and find more than ancient ruins.

After the events of Nightwatch on the Hinterlands (2021), Iari got a promotion and was sent north to Windscar along with Gaer and his arithmantic expertise. Gaer, Iari, and Iari’s team of fellow templars are charged with investigating a mysterious cave. Local legend says the cave is haunted. Government intel says the cave is a former hideout used by a long-dead alien species trying to save themselves from extinction. With this in mind, Iari assumes that those aliens used arithmancy to feed the rumors about hauntings in order to keep their hiding place a secret. In any case, she's more concerned with discovering whether the cave is now being used as a home base for violent insurgents. But when the team delves into the cave and is attacked by ancient mecha that is able to reanimate itself, Iari and Gaer discover that rogue arithmancers are the least of their problems. Iari and Gaer’s unlikely friendship was a nice highpoint in the series opener, so it’s disappointing that they spend much of this book separated from each other. Equally anticlimactic is the way the main antagonist from Book 1 is quickly forgotten, making way for an entirely new villain. Still, Eason excels at action sequences, and the new villain is wonderfully frightening. Gaer’s tense situation as an ally to Iari but spy for his own people continues to provide plenty of narrative interest.

A nice balance of political complications and SF action sequences.