Lance of Earth and Sky

Vidarian Rulorat faces the consequences of his actions in 2011’s Sword of Fire and Sea, consequences that include rekindling elemental magic across his world—killing many of the world’s most powerful men as a side-effect—and triggering a war between Qui and Vidarian’s homeland, Aloria. Vidarian’s true challenge is not the sudden change he has wrought but the machinations of an established force: the ancient, powerful, amoral Alorian Import Company. Hoffman is an online gaming veteran with a decade’s experience writing short fiction, but a relative newcomer to novel-length fantasy, and her second Chaos Knight novel suffers from flaws often seen in games: while her execution is competent enough, her world feels too familiar, too parallel to older secondary-world settings. Her obvious strengths promise more than this book delivers. (Apr.)