When an Anthony Ryan book comes out, I read it. So imagine my excitement when a sequel to The Covenant of Steel series, a trilogy beloved by me, was announced. When I began the book, I had some apprehension. Previously, I felt Ryan’s singular character point-of-view books always felt stronger than his multiple point-of-view books, which have sometimes left me disappointed. However, I’m happy to say A Tide of Black Steel delivers the clever characters, intriguing mysteries, and fantastic battle scenes I expect from an Anthony Ryan book.

Even though I knew Ryan’s Age of Wrath would bet set in a new location, the Alwyn Scribe of it all still hung over the book for me which is what made Elvine such a fascinating character. I had my guesses immediately about her origin when her mother was named and was interested how the scholarly character would continue in this story and was not disappointed. Both Felnir and her have similar trajectories in their stories where they started out going a way I expected only to intertwine, have some startling revelations, and end far different from what I was expected.

At first I thought that Ruhlin felt like a character I will like more in the second book rather than this one. A man who transforms into a monster chained up to be a gladiatorial slave isn’t quite appealing to me. Too many memories of my dislike for Frentis’s story of enslavement in Ryan’s other series Raven’s Shadow but Ruhlin’s point-of-view not only was a vast improvement over that but won me over by the climax of his part in the novel. In addition, it is through Ruhlin that we learn the most about an area of this world we did not get to see or even know about in The Covenant of Steel series. It’s also the nation that is breaching into Ascarlia and taking many of its people as slaves. From the other points-of-view there is a sense of imminent dread hanging over everywhere they go but from Ruhlin’s perspective you see that Nihlvar and its forces are not without flaws. The dragon is defeatable, essentially, and that is important to showcase in a story of impending war or invasion.

Thera and Felnir, brother and sister with fairly different reputations in Ascarlia make for contrasting points-of-view characters. Thera is in a position of power under the Sister Queens and respected among her peers but despite having close comrades is looking for something more but puts duty first. Felnir is hated and sometimes fear but loved by his crew. Their differences, similarities, and quite frankly, how often they think of each other despite their resentment towards one another adds to the entertainment of their points-of-view. The slow reveal of the fantastical, the descriptive and focused writing of battles, and the clever dialogue all are what I’ve come to love about Anthony Ryan’s writing. Through both brother and sister the story reveals different sides of the fantastical I didn’t expect but enjoyed. Likewise, it’s a testament to Ryan’s writing that Thera and Felnir both spend not a small amount of this book on their boats without making this what I call a boat book which some fantasy authors can lose me so quickly with. Ryan makes the crews of these boats the important parts without the need to flex all the research he did on boats.

I came into this book wondering if Ascarlia would be a place in this world I cared about after the events of previous series made me care about Albermaine and Caerith but it’s the characters that care about those places that make me care about those places. Sometimes with fantasy I grow tired of war, invading forces, politics, betrayal, battle but Anthony Ryan books I keep coming back to because the characters of A Tide of Black Steel get me to care about those scenarios once again.

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Joshua was provided an advance copy of the book by Orbit Books.

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