Storm and Steel, by Jon Sprunk, is part two of The Book of the Black Earth. Despite not having read part one, and despite having a somewhat slow start, once I got a few chapters into it, things picked up and the story gained enough inertia to start pulling me along.
There are two main stories here: that of the ex-slave Horace Delrosa, and the second of Jirom, a homosexual ex-gladiator and mercenary. Horace, the former slave, turns out to possess a very powerful and innate ability to work the magical energy of Sprunk's world, called zoanii. When Horace's ability reveals itself to the Queen and her advisers (in part one), he suddenly finds himself a member of Queen Byleth's court, and a powerful and unwelcome one at that. Also present in the court is Alrya, a Horace's love interest, with whom he struggles to establish the boundaries of their relationship based on his new status.
Read more at Storm and Steel, by Jon Sprunk | Fantasy | SFReader.com Book Review
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