This is the second book in the trilogy that follows the founding of the Kingdom of Valdemar. Kordas’ people have escaped the empire, and are now journeying through the wild lands to the west. There are people there, and they’ve resolved to not overwhelm anyone that’s already settled, so they need to move on from the initial spot they’d gated over to. And they find that the lands here have been badly warped by magic.
I did enjoy this book – the initial scouting through the changed lands was really interesting, and it was fun following a group of people that have been thrown wildly out of their comfort zone, even while approaching it with the best of intentions. But, I was a little disappointed by the huge deus ex machina near the end. This story already has a huge, literal deus ex machina (the Companions) baked into it, which will be the focus of the next book. While what happens makes sense within the established back stories of this world, I’m still a little disappointed that Lackey decided to lean that deeply into it.