My review for the first book in this series is here. This one continues many of the strong points, and has a plot that I found more creative and engaging. It blends in some aspects of political spy thriller surprisingly effectively. As with the first book, characters are really where this shines, and I loved the increasingly complex family (and found family) dynamics as Anglet quietly moves up in the world.

There is also a strong political angle here, with this fictional country attempting to prevent refugees arriving and cracking down on legal citizens in the process. I appreciate sci-fi using their fictional 'verse to illustrate a real-world problem and force readers to reflect on what their real-world impacts are. This is particular rare, in my experience, with steampunk, which tends to gloss over the truly horrific actions of the real British Empire that forms the base for most steampunk tales. It is always refreshing to find stories that recall the "punk" aspect instead of merely the "steam."

Added to the sci-fi bookbox