Tome Thursday: Provenance of Power

 

Hello everyone!

 

And welcome to an exciting addition to this blog post!

 

See a while back, I was approached by an Indie author through Facebook, and she asked me if I'd like to join her ARC team for a novel called Her Latent Charm.

 

Now, considering I read anything and everything that I can possibly get my grubby little mitts on, I said yes, of course. That one never has to be under any kind of question.

 

What I wasn't expecting was to truly ENJOY the book so much.

 

Don't get me wrong, I generally speaking always pick books that I know I'll at the very least like, if not outright love, but every now and then you do run into mishaps and end up, er, disappointed.

 

Not so here.

 

So when emails finally went out regarding the second book of the series, I was STOKED. I signed up immediately, and when the thing arrived in my inbox, I jumped.

Which means that, without further ado, we're looking at the sequel tonight: Provenance of Power!

Links to previous related posts can be found at the bottom of the page, as per usual.

As you may (or may not) remember, our protagonist Lila is the person of power in this story, in this case the power being called the Ambience, and how it works is roughly this: the Ambience is the life force of all the things that've passed away, and she's a Conduit, which allows her to open up a channel between the world and said Ambience, and change it by using said power.

Obviously, this brings with it a set of dangers, namely of a man named Derth who really, REALLY wants to take her back to Vortheim (or so it seems), so that's the first book's battle right off the bat.

In book two now, Lila and her crew (including but not limited to her ex Hunter and her current beau Bryn, along with her teacher Sam) are now the flagship for combating any unnatural occurrences, so of course when news seems to reach them about Derth, it's all hands on deck.

In particular, they're fired up because they've just fought a Vorthe ship filled with people being carted into slavery, and they had their own Ambient along for the ride that tried to do away with Lila.

Now, Lila having implanted a part of her soul in Bryn, this gives her a unique opportunity to literally link up with him mentally, and they become this creepy ass one being that speaks together but can wield massive amounts of Ambience, too.

Anyway, with the King's writ, they take off with ship and horse to investigate a series of incidents they believe might have been instigated by Derth, and turns out the man's a little more crazy and a hell of a lot more dangerous when people randomly start attacking Lila, completely obsessed and controlled by him.

Lila learns that Derth seems to be using some sort of dark, antithesis to the Ambience, and that it drains her to hell and back whenever she rips that control away from someone. However, as she's essentially a good person, she tries saving each and every single one of them.

In the process, she and Bryn get engaged, they set up a pact with his ex Meg, who helps them through the last of their misadventures in his hometown, and then learn later as they move on that Derth apparently took a full ship of people with him for some odd reason or another they can't yet explain.

Along the way, they hook up with a team from Vortheim who's ALSO hunting Derth, because their leader, the Malachi, wants him brought to justice.

 

Except, the Malachi's motives are called into question, and there's something even bigger than Derth going on in the background:

 

see, this thing called the Gloom is starting to pop up all over the place, and they have no way of combating it. HOWEVER, seeing what Lila can do - what she and Bryn can do together - has given these hunters from Vortheim hope that things just might not end all that bleakly.

 

As the winter deepens and they hurry towards an island that's not on any map, they discover a few other things, as well:

 

- that Sam has seen this type of control that Derth is exerting before, and that it's history repeating itself because it was what brought destruction to Salvation, his home

- that the guys from Vortheim know about this island, because their empire sent Ambients there after the Ambience in Trylia failed, to keep an eye on things and report back; only, they never did, something gruesome apparently happened that they became paranoid and walled themselves in, and who knows what they'll find once they arrive?

- that the Gloom is now much closer to Trylia than before, since they sail right into it on their way to the island.

A big battle with the controlled crew later, and Lila & Co finally get to the island proper, which is basically a walled city ... that's perfectly empty.

And has some sort of security measures that dig deep into your consciousness and make you live out your worse nightmares.

Finally, however, Lila and Derth come face-to-face, and it's funny because he keeps saying her power should have been his from the start, hinting at a big reveal to come, but it takes a lot of confusion for you as a reader as you jump between the imagination and reality until Lila slaps the nullifying bracelet that almost killed her onto him, and then sucks out all the Void that he's been using (basically the Dark Side of the Ambience, if you will), to take it into herself.

This reveals that Derth is actually her older brother - that their parents were agents for the king, who eventually did away with them, but that their mother opened a rift in the world to send Lila through to save her.

Also, yeah, Lila decides to peace out and take the Void with her so the Ambience can be free, but Bryn utilizes their connection to forcefully bring her back since he can't live without her.

This reveals that it's the clash of Ambience and Void which creates the Gloom - but also that there's something or someONE behind the Void who's apparently wielding it to try and take over, which I'm hoping we get more insight into as the series continues.

Anyway, the possessed people are no longer possessed, and our crew returns them home. Lila and Bryn now have to toe around each other as their connection is irreparably lost, since Bryn using the Ambience changed it. Who knows what that means for their marriage? Personally, I was amused at the way Lila keeps saying MUH POWER and MUH THING TO DO NOT YOURS, like, babe, you're not the first or only Ambient around, relax.

But at least Derth is now no longer a threat - and a new, larger one seems to be emerging, which I'm really looking forward to reading about once we get that far! Though first, let's travel to Salvation - that's not actually gone. DUN DUN DUN!

If I didn't say earlier, I was so very generously sent an ARC of this book by the way; and like I said, the world is growing baby!

Sure we spent all book chasing after Derth, which to be honest doesn't give much to do and most of the important stuff happens in the very last fifth of the book, but we get to see more Ambients around as a force from Vortheim joins us. Their leader can grate on your nerves with his joviality BUT getting a glimpse into more people than just Lila and Sam weilding is a gift.

Also, like I said, we finally get a Dark Side to our Force, in the form of the Void. We get to visit old, Ambient-created places, and apparently Salvation ain't gone yet either!

Equally we finally get some answers about Lila's past, Derth's obsession with her, and just enough to whet our curiosity for more. It looks like the King of Trylia may have some questions to answer, but then again when the Malachi of Vortheim apparently wants to rule the world ...

Lila and Bryn remain the center focus, with Hunter given plenty of room to glow as well. And I'm very impressed how I still care so much for our protagonists, a feat that sometimes wanes in other stories, which only means I want more.

Because we're given a bigger picture in this second book. We're back in Salvation where it all began, and which apparently Sam was wrong about in terms of survival. We also have to contend with shifting personal dynamics, and oh of course with something else beyond the Void wanting to be the head honcho.

This series is a refreshing new take and a world I'm super excited to be reading about, so I highly recommend picking it up. And I can't wait for more! 

Be sure to pick up your copy of Provenance of Power today, release day :)

xx

*image not mine

Grim Imperative - Ambience of Power