Magefall: Age of Dread, Book 2

The admirable second novel in Aryan’s Age of Dread fantasy saga extends the story lines advanced in 2017’s Mageborn. Following the destruction of the Red Tower, the magic-wielding seekers whom it was schooling and the mages who instructed them furtively disperse. In the wilds outside of Zeccoria, Wren and Tianne attempt to forge a community in which seekers are schooled to harness and channel the innate magical powers that nonmages deem dangerous. Their efforts to remain unobtrusive and altruistically beneficial to their kingdom are threatened by former confederates who have gone rogue: Akosh, who is subtly trying to establish a theocracy with herself as the goddesshead, and the power-drunk Garvey, who, with his cronies, cuts a swath of murderous destruction across the countryside. Though displays of magic occasionally manifest, Aryan’s tale is steeped more solidly in the intrigues of character clashes, petty politics, and power struggles in a culture whose marginalization of outsiders has significant contemporary resonance. His novel will whet fans’ appetites for the next installment in this gripping high fantasy series. (Sept.)