Ahoy there mateys! The entire time I was reading this book, I felt like I was missing something and had been tossed in over me 'ead.  Apparently this was the second book in the Mkalis Cycle.  This takes place in the "nine hundred and ninety-nine realms of Mkalis, the world of spirits, where gods and demons wage endless war" according to the blurb of the first book, the border keeper.  I wish I would have read that book first because this novella had no real descriptions about how and why this world worked the way it did and other reviews say this is a direct follow up to the events in the first book.  I did really enjoy the main character Tyn, a warrior, who finds herself at the center of trying to keep her realm safe.  I enjoyed the plot while I read this book because I wanted to know what was going on.  Upon finishing it, I will still scratching me noggin.  I don't plan on going to read book one.  Not sure if I would read more of the author's work. Arrrr!