Ten Arrows of Iron

Starred review from June 22, 2020
The second installment to Sykes’s The Grave of Empires series (following Seven Blades in Black) reunites readers with the magnificently complex heroine Sal the Cacophony in a hair-raising adventure packed with action, wit, and feeling. Exhausted by her quest for revenge against the 33 wizards who betrayed her and stole her magic, Sal accepts a job from Two Lonely Old Men to steal a relic of enormous power from the airship fleet Ten Arrows, believing it will bring her one step closer to the vengeance and the peace she craves. By the time Sal discovers she’s been roped into a much larger magical conspiracy, the only way to save herself, those she loves, and the innocents around her is all-out war. Sykes weaves the multiple converging plot threads with grace, and easily moves his myriad well-shaded characters through a lavish world and larger-than-life battlescapes. Despite the novel’s epic scope, Sal’s relationship with her beloved, Liette, remains personal, intimate, and heartbreakingly human throughout. This an unforgettable epic fantasy. Agent: Danny Baror, Baror International