Kira is back – back from the dead, brought back by Khefar and is now the Hand of Ma'at. With new duties and a new role in life, Kira has much to handle – but first and foremost she has to deal with the death of her handler, mentor and father figure. Now the battle is won she has time to mourn and time to put his affects in order and scatter his ashes.

But under it all she worries about her shadow taint. She took on some of the shadow fighting the fallen and now it is a part of her. A devotee of Ma'at, she is painfully aware that her heart is no longer lighter than Ma'at's feather – as well as the harm she did to her friends and innocents while under the shadow's influence

She also has time to explore her relationship with Khefar, the immortal Hand of Isis and the only man she can touch without her powers harming or killing him. But what future is there between them when she has her shadow taint and Khefar is approaching the end of his curse?

Of course the world doesn't wait while Kira balances her life. A chaser has gone missing along with an artefact that could literally destroy the world in the wrong hands – or simply if it is not returned soon. Kira has little time to grieve when she has the world to rescue, ancient Egyptian artifacts to return, a flood that would cover the globe – and the shadow of Set himself rising on behalf of the Shadow.

I love this book – and I was surprised. I expected to like it after the first book, but I didn't expect it to get this much better. But, yes it was a huge step up of an already good start.

I love the world. I love the Egyptian deities – and way beyond the common ones known to many. There's a lot of research here and a lot of information. Beyond that,.t he world itself is wide and broad with many layers and nuances. As part of that this book has a lot of great world building (and hints of more to come). Admittedly, some of this is done in the form of lectures but it never gets dull or to the point of me starting to wanting to snark it. Nor is it ever unrealistic.

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3.5 starsStill enjoyable. ( )

I enjoyed the first book in this series quite a bit, but had a hard time with this one. The first 100 or so pages are filled with introspection and grieving (and some info-dumping about what happened in the previous book, but that wasn't too bad). While I think those elements were important, the overall story would have benefited from having those parts mixed in with the action a bit more; the pacing just dragged.

The second half had a lot more action and the pace was a lot faster, but by then I had already given up emotionally, so it didn't have much impact. Also, while the relationship between Kira and Khefar progresses in this book -- and I'm fine with a romance building slowly throughout a series, but... it was kind of flat. I was actually a lot more intrigued by the little we saw of Demoz and his Light-touched assistant (I'd love to know more about that relationship!). At this point, I'm kind of conflicted about whether or not I want to pick up book 3. ( )