This is volume 2 of the science fantasy series narrating the efforts of Morgaine to close the space-and-time spanning Gates which have previously wrought havoc through time implosion, and the struggles of her faithful servant Vanye to stay true to his self and his oath, although he has to accept he is gradually becoming more distant from both. In this book, he faces the soul shaking discovery that, just as Morgaine had been missing for a hundred years on his own world while she was trapped in stasis within a gate, so has he been gone from his world for nine centuries. The world they have come to, in pursuit of the dangerous enemy who possesses his cousin Roh's body, experienced an invasion a thousand years ago and has suffered the effects ever since. The planet has also been experiencing a worsening innundation since the moon apparently broke up in collision with some captured moons, and now the coastal Barrower settlements - people who live by robbing the graves of their kingly ancestors and trading the gold with those living further inland who can grow food - are under imminent threat.

Morgaine and Vanye interact with the societies which have evolved since the incursion a millennia previously - the Barrowers, the Marshlanders and the people of Shiuan who are divided into rulers (who have the bloodline of the alien qual, who originally spread the use of Gates and who were responsible for the catastrophe those Gates brought about) and ordinary humans whom they view as cattle. The ancestors of all the ordinary humans came through the Gate, and Morgaine and Vanye eventually deduce they were the lost troops who originally followed Morgaine on her first attempt to close his world's own gate, and the reason her memory was reviled on Vanye's home world. The clue is in the Barrower and Marshlander superstitions concerning Morgaine, whose name has changed but is still recognisable, as a figure of ill omen. Despite this, some of them are willing to follow her away from the drowning coast in a quest to leave their doomed planet via the master Gate. In reality, she uses them to try to smash a way through to the Gate and close it before Roh can reach it and jam it open to allow the inhabitants - including himself - to escape to another planet and time.

In this story, Vanye is more torn than ever between his oath to Morgaine and the need to rely on his cousin Roh - or the creature wearing his body - for survival when he falls prey to the ruling qual descendants. The other man insists he is still Roh in essence, and Vanye finds it impossible to kill him as Morgaine ordered. He earns her suspicion, although she comes to his rescue - but then, it seems she has other motives. Always he finds it difficult to deal with her brooding nature, and she is more contrary than ever at times in this novel, though he now understands that at least some of this is due to the burden of carrying Changeling, the artefact which is a sword in form but a portable Gate in nature.

As a change from the first volume, the opening and closing sections of the book are seen through a different viewpoint than Vanye's: a young Barrower woman, Jhirun. She has been somewhat of a Cassandra figure since childhood and is viewed by her people as fey. She dreads the thought of having to marry the brutal Fwar and become a drudge overburdened with children like her sister. While wandering far from the Barrow she discovers an unplundered tomb full of riches, but is then prey to misconceptions about the identity of the wounded warrior who follows her home and terrifies her people, precipitating her own drastic departure. She is an interesting character viewpoint and it is a pity that her viewpoint is not continued in the main story, where we usually see Jhirun as a cowed character at the mercy of Morgaine, only sometimes showing the courage which we know she possesses.

The story concerns the breakdown of society and a descent into lawlessness, with the strong coming out on top and the weak and innocent suffering or even being slaughtered. The situation was evolving that way before Morgaine arrived, but her actions - in particular the manner in which she rescues Vanye - precipitate the downfall of the first inland fortress and a bloodbath which she does nothing to prevent. She is callous and only mindful of her mission - and somewhat of Vanye's life and safety, but probably because she needs someone to watch her back. She isn't responsible for all the mayhem - Roh has already infected one of the sons of that fortress with his vision of the Gates as an escape which he can open, and it is that murderous man who presides over a lot of the destruction - but possibly Roh would not have meddled so if he had not had Morgaine in pursuit, since his hope of extending his very long life depends on Gates.

The story is quite grim in places, and Vanye certainly goes through the wringer physically and mentally. The ending of the main story is a bit rushed - I wondered what Morgaine had accomplished with her 'final' order to Vanye and how necessary that was - so for that and the lack of integration of Jhirun's viewpoint into the main story, I would rate this at 4 stars. ( )

This was a strange one. While reading it I found it gripping, and full of activity and action. There was always something going on.

The world building of a planet devastated by rising waters, earthquakes, and a broken moon was very well done.

But.. (you knew that was coming)… after I finished it I felt that even with all the activity not much really happened, and I didn’t really get to know or care about any of the characters. ( )

Very good, hard to put down. ( )

Thoroughly enjoyed this series. ( )

This series has turned out to be a real page-turner. Every time I get to pick up the next one I'm excited to see where it's going.

The typical Clarke's law science fantasy stuff is a pretty minor part of the appeal, it's mostly readable for the psychological depth. The two main characters have a really weird relationship and don't communicate very openly, plus the fact that they're constantly outnumbered means here is a lot of tension around their ability to manage the expectations and desires of the other people around them. Also Vanye's point of view is really compelling to read, he will spend half a chapter anguishing about how useless he is but based on his actual actions and the reactions of people around him you know everyone except him considers him a terrifying badass. ( )