This was a refreshing fantasy book with a unique magic system. I was left with lots of questions, but also many answers by the end.

We follow Ruhla who is an Overseer. Overseers are responsible for passing messages that the living give spirits. Each Overseer leads a major city. The world we learn about is heavily dependent on this form of communication and the Overseers abilities to hear spirits. We also meet Kaimen who is able to see spirits, a gift that has caused the Overseers to exile him. When Kaimen notices changes in how the spirits are moving he sends a message to Ruhla. This prompts her to leave her city in search of him and later to pursue answers when she discovers he has been kidnapped. But everything is not what it seems and the history that has been taught by the Overseers may not be as true as it seemed.

This is a book that does an excellent job dealing with the morally gray areas that are present in the world, especially when power is involved. The worldbuilding is not accomplished in describing the current world, but is extremely dependent on developing the history of the world and how it ties into the current events. There are several excellent twists including a few that I did not see coming. The magic system and how the political system works is intriguing. We also see some excellent character development on Kaimen's part as he decides a side. This book is very plot driven, but we do get a good portion of learning about the characters and their motivations/qualms. There is a lot of intrigue and mystery throughout the book and we are left with some pressing questions that I expect will be answered in the next book.

I will be picking up the next book in this series and I'm very interested in seeing what happens with Ruhla, Kaimen, and the results of War'ach's plan. ( )