Book two in Peter Newman’s The Deathless series, The Ruthless takes place sixteen years after the events of the first book, as Lady Pari Tanzanite is finally reborn and Lord Vasin Sapphire is almost ready to make his play for power. In the years that Pari has been away, the demons of the Wild have grown bolder while the cracks have widened between the Deathless houses. In the castle of Lord Rochant Sapphire, young Satyendra searches for a way to avoid sacrificing himself for Rochant’s rebirth, while deep in the Wild the semi-feral Sa-at watches the human Gatherers and dreams of belonging.
Despite taking place a considerable time after The Deathless, this feels like a natural continuation of the series, the decade-and-a-half in-universe gap serving to emphasise the long view that the Deathless take without detracting from the immediacy of the plot. It also means there’s a nice balance of familiarity and development with the characters, and it proves satisfying to return to Pari, Vasin, Chandni and the other familiar characters, all of whom have grown or changed to varying degrees. Some, like Varg and Glider, take more of a back seat this time around, while Satyendra and Sa-at inevitably warrant more attention now they’re no longer babes in arms, and although character loyalties are largely a little clearer this time around there’s still scope for Newman to explore the possibility that at least some of them are not quite what they seem.
Plot-wise this feels slightly more straightforward than its predecessor; while the inter-house politics still play an important part in the story, there’s less of the really twisty maneuvering and the lines are a little clearer. That’s partly because the world and the characters are now familiar to the reader, but partly down to the nature of the story and how this book fits into the overarching series. There’s less focus needed on introducing the currents of power within the houses, and the basics of how the world itself works, so Newman has time to let the characters breathe a little and dig down into some of the details of their (and the world’s) histories. Pari’s relationship with her brother Arkav, Rochant’s life before he became Deathless, the secrets kept by both Chandni and Satyendra, the fractious alliances within the Wild, there’s time for all these things and more to be explored.
It’s a classic middle-of-a-trilogy book really, in which some of the individual arcs resolve but many of them are developed to a point at which it’s clear they’re being set up for the conclusion to the overall narrative. As such it’s not really a standalone book in the way The Deathless was, and similarly it doesn’t feature a huge amount of exposition or recapping of what went before, so it very much rewards having read the first book recently. That being said, it’s eminently readable, paced nicely to keep things moving without ever feeling rushed, and offering a deeper, rewarding exploration of this intriguing world and its characters. Readers who enjoyed The Deathless will find plenty to appreciate here, and while on the one hand it’s agonising to have to wait for the next book, on the other hand that’s a clear sign – as if it were needed – that this series continues to entertain.
Many thanks to Harper Voyager and Netgalley for the advance copy of this book, in exchange for this review.
Click here to buy The Ruthless (or here for the audiobook version).