Ahoy there me mateys! So earlier in the year, wendy @ the biliosanctum set me on a series of adventures that led to me reading the first book in The Craft Sequence, three parts dead. I absolutely loved it. So when I saw the second book, I picked it up without even reading the blurb. I didn’t want to spoil any fun.

So I was completely not prepared for what I found. Ye see, the first book centers around a first year associate named Tara whose firm Kelethres, Albrecht, and Ao is hired to go to a city called Alt Coulumb to discover who killed the God, Kos, and bring him back to life if they can. It was full of action and super clever.

Surprisingly, the second book had nothing to do with the first, even if it is set in the same world. I love companion novels, so there was no problem with that. The book follows a middling risk assessment manager named Caleb Altemoc in the city of Dresediel Lex. His firm, Red King Consolidated, manages the water of the city, among other things. When the water is tainted, Caleb is sent to help clean up the mess and while there meets a cliff-runner named Mal. All hell starts to break loose in both his professional and personal lives. Can Caleb discover who is behind the water crisis and help fix it before the city consumes itself?

I really wanted to like this book but it ended up being only an okay read. Unlike Tara in the first book, Caleb is kinda lame. He is smart, dedicated, and a good friend. But sadly he seems to lack the fire and grit of Tara. His relationship/lust of and with Mal was the focus of the character relationships and I sadly found it uninspiring and rather insipid. I wanted way more of the fascinating side characters like Caleb’s dad or his best friend or his boss. The first book had a lot more well-drawn characters overall.

Also there wasn’t a lot of mystery or suspense in this one in terms of who-dun-it. That I figured out early on. However, I was never in any danger of not finishing this book because I needed to know how the author was going to resolve the problems. The ending was certainly fun and thoughtful. So while I didn’t love this installment, I certainly still love the both the world and the author’s writing style. I will be reading the third book at some point and, no, I won’t be reading the blurb for that one either. Wish me luck. Arrrr!!!

Check out me other reviews at https://thecaptainsquartersblog.wordpress.com/