Cuando, en un imperio donde la revolución industrial se alimenta de magia, el estudiante de arqueología Tyen desentierra un libro antiguo, se abre la puerta a un reino de misterio y peligro. Entre sus páginas está encerrado el espíritu de Vella, una hechicera cuya sabiduría, acumulada a lo largo de los siglos, incluye información vital sobre el cataclismo que se avecina.

En cambio, la joven Rielle vive en una tierra gobernada por sacerdotes donde el uso de la magia está prohibido. Sin embargo, ella siente que tiene talento para la hechicería y sabe que hay alguien en la ciudad dispuesto a enseñarle a utilizarla. ¿Se atreverá a enfrentarse a la ira de los Ángeles para iniciarse en el aprendizaje de la magia?

Canavan presents a contrast two worlds united by the same magic system through the perspectives of two characters at odds with the governing powers of their settings. I liked how different the worlds were, and the contrasting approaches to magic that they set up. The characters themselves are a little bland, and I dislike how little agency they have in their own stories--an obstacle appears, they make the most obvious, boring choice possible to resolve it, and then plot events happen to push them forward to next obstacle. I think that's pretty forgivable for this book: the setting--particularly the magic system, and the mysteries thereof--drives the plot forward pretty effectively on its own. Unfortunately, the questions this book asks about its setting are largely left unanswered, and dissatisfyingly teased for future books that I'm not sure I'll read. No big surprises to be found here. ( )

I enjoyed the book enough to look for the sequel, but it hasn't been released yet! At the moment I'm not sure I'll still be interested by the time the planned 3-book series is complete in 2017, and the way this book was written I don't think I'm interested in reading it before it is done.

Two-thirds of this book's story features a fast-moving plot focused on a young man in a rather generic Fantasy setting with a little bit of Steampunk flavor, and the other third followed a young woman in a different setting with a more unique but less exciting adventure. By the end of the book both major plot lines have had a bit of resolution and both have had some significant twists, but they didn't come close to intersecting. ( )

The worlds are interesting, the magic system is promising, and the characters are fine. But the endings feel extremely rushed. I say worlds and endings, because this is two unrelated stories in unrelated worlds, that just happen to share a magic system. Very weird that the stories don't meet up at any point in this book - I expect them to in later books. Some seemingly important characters are introduced, but then discarded without a second glance in order to wrap up the stories. I still want to read the next book, but not the best start of a series. Rating 3/5. ( )

Setting aside around the halfway mark. There's nothing really wrong with it - it's engaging, built on some very interesting worldbuilding concepts, and well written - but I just didn't feel like anything was happening. Oh, one character's found a book that's really a person, and another has thrown away her entire life, and there are big damn questions about the nature of magic over both of them, but none of it really felt centred or urgent. Sadly there are just too many books and not enough reading time at present to stick with things I'm not loving.