A very interesting world where humans are restricted to land since the world’s waters have heinously huge predatory creatures called Leviathans which, on occasion, breach the seawalls and rampage well inland laying waste to whole towns. Their entire society revolves around this occasional event. Their infrastructure is, essentially, a series of walls designed to deter the beasts and weaponry to destroy one should it not be stopped at the wall.  The flesh of these beasts have many uses; particularly in the enhancement of abilities in humans. Many of these enhancements are relegated to the “aristocracy” such as it is; but many are used by people to improve their livelihood and that of their families.  Such is Din Kol; who accepted his enhancements to discharge his father’s debts and provide for his family. A family he hasn’t seen or communicated with since he did so.  His enhancements enable him to be an excellent observer as he cannot forget anything he sees or hears. These enhancements do come with some downsides.  One could argue that his enhancements make him somewhat other than human and do diminish his life span.

He was assigned to assist the Immunis Ana Dolabra, a celebrated investigator. If Din’s enhancements make him somewhat inhuman, Ana’s enhancements are off the charts.  Even Din isn’t sure exactly what her enhancements are or what they mean to her.  Her ability to absorb enormous quantities of data and make connections is what she contributes to her Empire.  She and Din are assigned to the strangest cases known.  And this one was extraordinary.

They are assigned to investigate a murder; way back in the wilds of the Third Ring. Din is frustrated and confused why they would be investigating what looks like a simple murder.  But it’s not the murder they are there to solve.  The Empire is wanting them to stop a local civil war.

In classic style, there are two immensely powerful and wealthy houses that have been feuding for generations. The Burav gentry-clan raise highly modified cattle to provide beef for the Empire.  They developed huge cattle that provide enormous quantities of meat while using enormous resources.  The Armenta gentry-clan are the yin to their yang; they provide the feed for the cattle.  The feed is harvested by a native cat-like creature; which has been enhanced for the task.  And this modification is what drives the story.

Again, in classic style, a boy from the Armenta clan and a girl from the Burav clan fall in love.  At their last meeting in their usual hotel, the boy apparently murdered the girl.  Everyone is ready to lynch the boy and the Armenta clan is ready to murder the entire Burav clan should that happen.  The Empire has a vested interest in making sure this doesn’t happen as it would, undoubtedly, interrupt the trade of meat on their tables.  The Empire does love a good steak; no matter the cost.

Din’s and Ana’s initial investigation, including testimony from the boy, lead them to believe the murder was real but the murderer yet unknown.  To forestall the impending violence, they need to find the real murderer, and fast.

The author is a master of plotting; the pace was breakneck and kept me at it in spite of needing to do chores. As with the two previous books, the truth is convoluted and seemingly impossible to discover; unless you have Din and Ana picking at the facts.  Ana’s disability is mainly that she cannot physically examine crime scenes or interrogate people; her ability to absorb data from all sources, all around her, can be debilitating.  So Din is her eyes, ears and feet.  He goes out and experiences all there is to see and hear and then relates it to her.  She then makes deductions, Sherlockian style, and sends him out again.  But Din is no mere automaton; he has the ability to deduce things from evidence and the autonomy to pursue a clue if he wants to.  As long as it provides data or truth, Ana is not adverse to it.

The story ends up involving several murders, going back some years; implying a very long game by the murderer.  It also involves the enhancements made on the cat creatures that basically created a slave race that cannot do anything but harvest, as they were conditioned to do.  And here’s the McGuffin:  someone weaponized that conditioning to work on humans; humans who could be conditioned to commit murder or suicide. Their investigation covers just about every member of both houses, living and dead, and their friends, associates, and servants.  And, most interesting to this reader, a connection to the ancient peoples who predated the Empire.  They are looking for someone who knew how to use this ancient “technology” to work on humans, and had a motive for all the murders.  It seemed impossible to find this extraordinary person.  The author’s resolution to the story was positively elegant.

The world-building is fabulous.  It has mostly focused on the effects of the Leviathans on their society; we get a little history but no real clear picture of how humans came to the continent or from where or when. Maybe they evolved inland after the ancient ones disappeared. Or maybe they were seeded. As we learned in this story, some of the ancients deliberately sealed away their technology; things that humans had no business knowing because they weren’t equipped to use it.  We got to see a lot more about different enhancements depending on a person’s job.  I loved the ideas put forth for those who work the land and protect the environment. There was more than a little emphasis on land stewardship versus selfish demands for luxury goods.

And then the characters:  Din is a very sympathetic person, Ana is very confounding and definitely not a people-person.  Although Din has to work for her as that is his job, he’s slowly developing a stronger respect for her as a person and exhibiting more curiosity about just what she is. We don’t get any internal thoughts from Ana and she provides very little to Din about her thoughts or feelings except how they relate directly to their case.  I think that if the author gave the reader that, a lot of the mystery of just what Ana is would be diluted and I’m sure he’ll want to continue to give us tidbits in future stories.  And I do hope there are enough fans out there to warrant the publisher to continue publishing these stories.  Next to science fiction or fantasy, I do love me a good mystery.  Mysteries and SF/F are just meant to go together; sort of like milk and cookies.  ~~  Catherine Book

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