Grimsley's intricate, well-crafted sequel to 2004's Lamba Award– winner, The Ordinary
, chronicles the rise of a war between epic forces; on one side is the powerful Mage, ruling an interplanetary empire that includes the interdimensional Anilyn Gate and the planet Aramen. There, the Mage orchestrates a redistribution of wealth between rich and poor, much to the dismay of the wealthy merchant Fineas Figg, the guardian of Keely File, a traumatized but strangely talented 10-year-old boy. But Fineas must soon worry about more than his money, as giant mantis creatures perpetrate a genocide that began as a rebel uprising against the Mage. Keely and Fineas team with the former rebel Kitra Poth and the priest Dekkar, who realizes that a powerful being known as Rao is orchestrating the mantis attack in a challenge to the Mage. Rao is also after Keely, but Dekkar is determined to protect him. The inconclusive ending to this complex work of world-building and large-scale politics seasoned with gore and desperation will have readers anxiously awaiting the next installment. (Dec.)
