When he reaches the island, he meets extraordinary kids like Talia the gnome, Theodore the wyvern, and Chauncey, an amorphous blob whose parentage is unknown. He is to stay on the island for a month and write reports for Extremely Upper Management, which warns him to be especially meticulous in his observations. When Extremely Upper Management sends for Linus, he learns that his next assignment is a mission to an island orphanage for especially dangerous kids. Linus clings to the notion that his job is about saving children from cruel or dangerous homes, but really he’s a cog in a government machine that treats magical children as second-class citizens. Linus Baker loves rules, which makes him perfectly suited for his job as a midlevel bureaucrat working for the Department in Charge of Magical Youth, where he investigates orphanages for children who can do things like make objects float, who have tails or feathers, and even those who are young witches. Best of all, the relentless intrigues, plots, and schemes bubble just below the surface.Ībercrombie brings his compact, adroit, and engaging trilogy to a satisfying, if seldom memorable, conclusion.Ī tightly wound caseworker is pushed out of his comfort zone when he’s sent to observe a remote orphanage for magical children. The narrative, well-sprinkled with gory action and impelled by characters at this stage not just familiar, but gratifying, moves along at a brisk clip.

And Skara may find herself at odds with that master of deception, Yarvi himself. They will come to suspect a traitor in their midst.

The allies will need elf-weapons, hidden and deadly dangerous, designed to kill a god. Even such a daring assault won’t be enough, though, to prevail against the vast armies commanded by Bright Yilling. If, however, somebody is desperate enough to climb the cliffs, Skara knows a secret way into the fortress. Bright Yilling, they learn, has left his fleet in the supposedly impregnable harbor of Bail’s Point. Escaping by posing as a slave, Skara makes her way to Gettland, where King Uthil and Queen Laithlin confer with their ally, King Grom-gil-Gorm of Vansterland, and Yarvi. Now, Princess Skara of Throvenland watches helplessly as Bright Yilling, the High King’s war leader, callously kills her grandfather King Fynn, burns his halls, and lays waste to her homeland after what the king thought was an agreement turned out to be a betrayal. Previously we glimpsed the grand designs of Father Yarvi, now minister (counselor) to the Iron King Uthil of Gettland, aimed at preventing the High King and his wicked, conniving minister, Grandmother Wexen, from conquering the lands bordering the Shattered Sea and imposing worship of the One God upon unwilling subjects. Final, independently intelligible entry in the Shattered Sea trilogy, following Half the World (2015, etc.).

Shattered sea trilogy