Baskadia

I loved this book. The first time through, I found it gripping, but somewhat bewildering. After I finished, I immediately went back and started over. I picked up a lot more on the second (and third) time through. There is mystery: who has put Kai and his friends/family into isolation? Where are the missing ones? There is history: a horrifying invasion that destroyed much of the known world. There is magic, of several different kinds, and many different kinds of people. Martha Wells is very good at world-building, and this is a complex one, with demons and other connections to another world/realm/something(?), witches (connected to the demons), nomadic tribes, many cultures with different kinds of powers, cities and a variety of nations, barely recovered from the war decades before. Aside from the mystery, and the dual stories of the "present" and what happened in the past during the war, the best thing for me about this book is the relationships. Kai is powerful, but has a lot of hidden sweetness, somewhat bewildered by what is going on in the world, and feeling betrayed by some he trusted. I liked the relationships among Kai, his friend the witch, her wife the warrior, and the other characters that formed their little found family group. They care for those who need caring, and I especially like the way they take in the abused witch and the kidnapped street child and admit them to the family. I hope to revisit them, and see more about how they are going about their lives. This is going to be one of the books I come back to over and over when I want a good familiar book to reread. I hope we hear more about Kai's family and their efforts to "unburn" the world. Read more