This is a highly entertaining fantasy epic.  In this world, resources and self-determination rests primarily with the large merchant houses; think: clans.  If you aren't part of a House, then you live in the Commons where there is nothing.  No resources, no laws; people just exist…

Technology is driven by the art of scriving.  This is the art of rewriting what is real to convince an object to behave differently that it should.  For example, a sword could be convinced that gravity is greater than normal and the direction of the gravitic mass is not necessarily down.  Which means, that scrived sword would cut through someone with unnatural speed and force as the sword obeys the law of gravity.  This is done by using a special language and engraving "instructions" onto the object; and only by specialists called hypatus.  The secret language originated with a race of people called hierophants who, supposedly, created the magical technology of scriving.  All that anyone understands of scriving is the small amount of information that has been translated or decoded; and it isn't anywhere near all of the information.  Any artifact from the hierophants is worth a great deal to a House and they will war on each other for possession.

Sancia lives in the Commons; if you call her existence living.  She's a damn good thief and with her unique abilities, she can steal just about anything.  She had a heinous past that left her with a strange and unique ability: if she touches anything with a bare finger, she will know everything there is to know about the object.  She'll know where and how it was crafted, for example; down to weak points or who is standing on the object.  You can imagine then, how horrifying an experience it would be to touch a person or to eat meat.  And when she touches a scrived object or is close to one, she can "hear" the scriving instructions.  Both results are a tremendous advantage to a thief; but, Sancia is just about the loneliest person alive.  In fact, what she is would be an abomination to everyone and if anyone suspected what she was, she'd be killed.  And she can never just turn it off.

Sancia is given a job by her friend and fence, Sark, that will make both of them filthy rich.  All she has to do is break into a safe in a fortressed harbor office and remove a small box.  It just didn't go as planned and Sancia inadvertently burned down the harbor; but she got the box.  However, once she got home and hid the box, she tortured herself with suspicions about why anyone would pay so much for so little…so she opened it.  And her life and everyone in existence would never be the same.

Poor Sancia finds herself propelled from one event to another; due, in no small part, to what she learns from the key that was in the box.  A scrived key like no other in that it can open anything.  And it is apparently sentient.

She is pursued by a war hero, turned constable, for her part in the harbor disaster.  Her friend, Sark, is gone but she has other friends with specialized skills who may be able to help her but at a potentially high cost.  Sancia just has to figure out if she's willing to do what is necessary to save others; a trait that has never been in the Sancia playbook before.

The plot does have evil doers behind closed doors; maybe more than one and maybe with different agendas.  And it has great heroism and self-sacrifice; not all by humans.  It is a great plot with many twists and the author does a magnificent job of providing the reader with small bits of intelligence to explain the society and scriving; just enough to whet our appetite.  There is a suggestion of non-traditional love that may appeal to the LGBTQ+ audience.

Since this is part of a planned trilogy it wasn't surprising that although this story had a resolution; a cliff-hanger was de rigueur.  But I am very eager to delve into more of this universe.  Stay tuned… ~~  Catherine Book

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