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Master Artificer (The Silent Gods #2)

Justin Call

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⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

UK Publisher | Gollancz

UK Release Date | May 6th, 2021

Format | Hardback

Page Count | 866

RRP | £25

Thank you to Gollancz for this finished copy, in exchange for an honest review. All opinions that you'll read here are my own. 

Annev has avoided one fate. But a darker path may still claim him.

After surviving the destruction of Chaenbalu, new mysteries and greater threats await Annev and his friends in the capital city of Luqura. As they navigate the city's perilous streets, Annev searches for a way to control his nascent magic and remove the cursed artifact now fused to his body.

But what might removing it cost him?

As Annev grapples with his new magic, Fyn joins forces with old enemies and new allies, waging a secret war against Luqura's corrupt guilds in the hopes of forging his own criminal empire. Deep in the Brakewood, Myjun is learning new skills of her own as apprentice to Oyru, the shadow assassin who attacked the village of Chaenbalu - but the power of revenge comes at a daunting price. And back in Chaenbalu itself, left for dead in the Academy's ruins, Kenton seeks salvation in the only place he can: the power hoarded in the Vault of Damnation...

Earlier today, I posted up my review of book one in the The Silent Gods series, Master of Sorrows, which you can check out here. 

After speeding through the last 100 pages of Master of Sorrows, I am so grateful for past me for waiting for the sequel before starting this series. Master Artificer begins a matter of hours after the conclusion of book one and throws you straight back into the story. I'm going to have to be careful to not give anything away here so this might have to be brief. 

In book one, Call perfectly planted the seeds for the controlled chaos of book two. Driving the story from being a dark fantasy that had revitalised stale tropes and characters types, into an epic narrative that weaves a web across a continent. Be warned though, this book definitely still feels just as dark as its precedent, if not more so. 

I was really hoping that with the sequel this would go from a close-third narrative a teenage boy to utilising the use of multiple POVs to bring a wider depth of characters, setting and magic. And it did exactly that, with a phenomenal execution of style and pacing that left me tantalized to turn the page, start the next chapter and follow the network of characters in all their moral intricacies.  

In my review for Master of Sorrows, I mentioned Myjun and the way we left at what felt like only the start of her story, which we get to see in this novel as she and Kenton shift into the antagonists of Annev's story and his slow progression into this dark lord vision that is being hinted at. I really enjoyed reading from there POVs, and the way in which Call handle consequence.