Chasm

McEwan's Chasm picks up immediately where Ledge (2022) left off. Dawsyn Sabar is imprisoned, her royal heritage and the betrayal that permanently stranded her people on the deadly ice shelf as fodder for the winged Glacians having been revealed to her. Dawsyn will need all the help her friends can provide, not just to escape the cruel fate the queens have planned for her but also to carry out her desperate desire to save her people. Additionally, she must cope with her complicated feelings for Ryon, the half-blooded Glacian who saved her life, loved her, lied to her, and led her to the treacherous queens but who was also ready to die for her. Without spoiling things, this is a trilogy's second book that wraps up a satisfactory plot while also setting up tension for the next entry. Fans of the first book will enjoy getting to further explore this world and its inhabitants. The Glacian trilogy is for those who enjoy high-stakes fantasy politics in their narratives and stubborn baddassery in their heroines.

Dawsyn Sabar has survived leading a coup over the Glacians, who picked off villagers as human sacrifices, only to find that her love with Ryon was a lie and her quest to free the people of the Ledge has only begun. After Ryon's betrayal and death, a devastated Dawsyn resigns herself to execution by the Queens. Dawsyn is not the only one who feels betrayed by the Queens, however, and finds an unlikely ally in the guard. On the run, the mage Baltisse finds and assists Dawsyn in her quest to free her people, as well as with Dawsyn's newfound powers from the iskra pool. The second book in this trilogy draws out relationships that were introduced in Ledge, making it slightly less action-packed than its predecessor, but McEwan's worldbuilding is just as fantastic as in the first book, with the unique magic system of the iskra viewed from a different angle through Dawsyn's use. VERDICT Fans of the first book will enjoy this second adventurous fantasy novel with some romance.--Jen Funk