Tarma and Kethry's actual adventures in here are kind of...not minor, exactly, but not...I don't know. I want to say, not life-changing the way the ones in the first book are - but then I think about meeting Jadrek, and when Kethry was injured, and the whole Idra sequence, and...yeah. Lifechanging they _are_. Maybe it's just that they're both pretty well grown up at the beginning of the book - and at the end, there are changes, but they're still grown up. The first book is largely about them finding their feet, personally and as a team. This one they _are_ a team and as a team accomplish some pretty amazing stuff. And lay the foundations for some serious changes for Valdemar and Velgarth as a whole...(though they don't come out for another book or three!) ( )

In a complete oversimplification: the sequel finds Tarma and Kethry members of the Sunhawks, a mercenary company. When their captain, the sister of a pair of dueling royal brothers, fails to return from her visit home, partners Kethry (White Winds sorceress) and Tarma (Shin'a'in sword sworn) volunteer to see what's happened to her.

This is a tightly plotted book with great characters, enough romance to make it interesting, and lots of suspense and intrigue. ( )