Loved this. Builds on the first book by daringly have our heroes cross another, even bigger desert, hoping to put it between them and the fanatical holy army trying to kill them. Stakes are even higher though as forces move to threaten the city they're aiming for, and the caravan they're attached to has more than one hidden secret and shock in store, to say nothing of the haunted knife and the various monsters infesting the sands and the rocks ahead and the terrifying demon-child following remorselessly behind. Yes, a whoile lot keeps happening, and it ends with a set-up for a magnificently epic final volume of family bonds and saving the world.