With each volume of this stellar series, the question arises anew: How will the text deceive its readers now that we’re able to recognize Eugenides’s lies? This time, it’s through the first-person narration of Sophos, the excruciatingly honest (but underinformed) heir to the kingdom of Sounis. As civil war brews, the young man is plucked from his bookish rustication by kidnappers desiring a puppet king. Sophos escapes only by finagling himself into slavery. It’s an oddly pleasant interlude for him; after a lifetime of training for an unwanted royalty, Sophos treasures the choicelessness of his relatively benevolent servitude. Alas, he knows his responsibilities. When the opportunity comes, Sophos escapes and turns to his old friend Eugenides for help. Sophos, with aid from Eugenides and the queens of Attolia and Eddis, plots the recovery of Sounis. In a heartbreaking chain of machinations, they negotiate the responsibilities of kingship when they’d rather be operating as friends. Sophos’s straightforward stubbornness is a refreshing antidote to his world’s lies and a fascinating lens on Eugenides. For series fans, unmissable. (Fiction. 12-15)
