This is Brian Moyer's second novel in the Splintered World series and it does not disappoint. Esah is slowly figuring out how his new world is really working. Things seem strange, Esah has three capabilities when everyone else has usually one is a big advantage. Nobody lives with three capabilities so Esah is an unknown capability. But the powers in charge have noticed. Now things get interesting.

The book is an easy read and answers many questions of Splintered. It's well worth the read.

I received an ARC of this book. My review is based on that copy. The published work may differ from what I read.

This is book two in the Splintered World series. I read the ARC of book one, Splinter, a couple months ago and enjoyed it. It was a debut novel, and it was a great start to the series. Since this isn’t a standalone I’m a bit limited in what I can share about the plot. I don’t want to spoil anything. However, this builds on book one smoothly. The style, story, and pacing are all consistent. It’s a unique world and magic system, and the plot is interesting. The tension and the stakes have grown from the first book, and the expansion in point of views and world building adds depth and intrigue.

The characters are not driving the story. The world and the magic system are what move things along. I would have preferred a more character heavy style, but that is personal preference. I can appreciate the creativity in the world building. There is a lot of detail, a lot of time spent on the minutiae of the magic system. As creative and unique as it was, I found it a bit boring after a certain point. There is a lot of repetition. Information is expressed in a scene, and then repeated again a few pages or chapters later. The redundancy was frustrating to experience as a reader. I think a tighter edit would help to catch a lot of the repetition.

I liked the development of the characters and their relationships. There are some moving emotional beats, and I liked how they played out and the consequences for those involved. I also enjoyed the expansion of the world. We learn a lot in this book, and it raises the stakes of the story considerably. There’s a lingering sense of tension driving the pace, and it hooked me by the midway point of the book. The ending conflict was compelling. I liked how all of the threads came together. It also set up the continuing story well. There’s a natural ending point but the book continues for another ten percent past that. I think it would have been a stronger conclusion if it had ended sooner.

This is not perfect, by any means, but it was thoughtful and creative. I would encourage you to check out book one, Splinter, and then continue on with the series in Unbound.

This is the second book in the Splintered. It's going to be hard to write this review without giving away spoilers. I'm really enjoying this series. The world building continues to be complex and based on actual science. There was good character and relationship development in this story. I actually liked that focus was split between Esah and some of the other characters. The suspense that drives this story forward is due to the mystery Esah, Hoda, ect are trying to solve. Overall the pacing of the story was good and the writing style moved the story forward. I would consider this more of a cerebral sci-fi series. I look forward to seeing where the story goes and what happens now that they've started to figure things out. I also need to see how Hoda deals with things. If you've read the book you know what I'm talking about.