Down In Flames by Sarah Tunder is part of the Acros Raiders series of fantasy novels. It's the second book in the series. Please read the first book or it won't make sense. Also, spoilers are below. You've been warned.
Down In Flames is a steampunk fantasy novel with a pantheon of gods, various races of people, and an oppressive government restricting religious freedom. This is the second book. The first book centered on finding a traitor amongst a small raiding party. The second book suggests, from the very first chapter onward, that there may be another traitor still in their midst. Our main character, Scotty, is having nightmares about the whole situation, despite the fact she already found the traitor in the previous plotline.
From here on out, we have spoilers. Read it yourself before proceeding further. You've been warned. Don't spoil anything for yourself!
My overall thoughts
After getting almost 10 chapters in, I have a few theories on who the traitor is. My main theory is Aster, who snapped at Scotty when she said she saw the ethner bullet. While it may be a red herring, he does seem really on edge (and maybe not just because he was going to a past trauma zone). Also, the organization that tracked them before is still tracking them, and he has a rebel gun. I'm reacting as I go, so we'll see if I'm right in later paragraphs.
Also, the sharfawks is everywhere Scotty looks, including in her nightmares. I get a bad feeling about that thing. It may be Ludon, but it might be something else. All I know is (10 chapters in-ish) that it keeps showing up at odd moments, which can't be a coincidence.
After reading up to the end of chapter 16, I get the feeling that sharfawks is Cassius. I still have a bad feeling about that thing. The fact that Scotty wanted to look at the section on Cassius in the Good Book is a sign. Also, Ludon warded it off, and that gives me pause. Is she chosen by Cassius and not Ludon? Time will tell. Cassius reminds me of Loki (Norse mythology, god of chaos). Keeping in mind that Ludon was not known to show up as a sharfawks, that also gives me pause.
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Twenty chapters in, further cementing my theory that Aster is the traitor, he asks Scotty who else she suspected. This raised all the alarm bells in my head. He's close to getting leadership because Jean might die. He regretted joining the Acros Raiders. He talks of deep regrets and doing things for honoring a parent, but doesn't elaborate - just says he did bad things. My theory is still going strong.
By chapter 27 I'm convinced Aster is the traitor. He's said things that are off, things Scotty noticed. Scotty's visit to the prison, to Hartwood, tells us many things, including the fact he might have been innocent and Aster definitely threw him to the wolves if he was. Also, he confirms what I suspected - that it isn't Ludon that was speaking to Scotty. Two things are being cemented in my mind by the end of chapter 27, and I think I called it correctly early on. Again, we also have a dream where the Sharfawks can't get past the waters of Ludon - telling me that Cassius was the Sharfawks. Time will tell if I'm right.
At chapter 40, I've got proof of what I suspected. That sharfawks is Cassius. It became clear as day when she read the Good Book section on Cassius. A poem gets her attention and it points to the image of a sharfawks. She also connected with the high priestess by eye contact and got the same aura, which means the high priestess they are trying to rebel against is following Cassius, not Castus. The Loki of this setting is the one behind all the violence and war, manipulating society.
I finished the book now. It hits hard at the end - suicide warning hard. All the crap hits the fan, the real traitor is revealed to be a son of a general (Aster is Hawk, not Aster), and Jean (under the horrifying control of Cassius) kills himself upon the news of Aster's betrayal. Disturbingly, Cassius has been lurking in Scotty and Jean's minds, taking Jean from them in an act of suicide. As we reach the end of the book, it becomes clear to Scotty that Cassius has deep hooks in Jean. She sees the sharfawks (Cassius's image) sit on Jean's grave as they leave the camp and move on. Someone did give into the sharfawks and it cost him his life. The high priestess also has Cassius' aura, which means the war was caused by the Loki of this setting - Cassius.
Overall Thoughts
Wow, just wow. We have a suicide, a leadership change, all of the crap hitting the fan all at once, and the rebellion in serious trouble. I don't think one overview can say all I have to say. What I thought was great was one detail that struck me as a romance option, strangely enough. Halcy was actually a similar personality to Scotty. That surprised me, especially since she talked to him pretty easily until she found out who he was. I hope that plotline goes somewhere into turning Halcy to the rebel's cause - mostly because his respect for his superiors isn't high. As a DnD (Dungeons and Dragons) player, I would have tried to persuasion him to the rebel's side during the fall celebration.
Another thing, this could be a DnD setting. It fits a lot of the rules, even to the pantheon of gods aspect. Scotty would clearly be a rogue. It would be a perfect rogue character. If you love DnD, read this - but from the first book and then this one. This is an easy five stars for me. I loved it! It was a little dark at the end, but it was worth it. I couldn't stop reading after I got to the climax.
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Morrow is coming out before Christmas 2025. This novella is the story of two women writing a family history for the Morrow family. They find a nasty secret while researching. Will they survive their internship? Find out when the book releases this year.
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