Slaves of the Mastery

This is the second part of a trilogy, bringing together the Manth people, who were first introduced in The Wind Singer, with two other societies. 

The first, the Mastery, is a society of prosperous slaves run by a single tyrant, the Master, who controls them with the force of his mind. The second is the people of Gang, whose ruler's beautiful daughter is being taken away to marry the heir to the Mastery.

At the beginning of the novel, the city of Ararmanth is destroyed, its people enslaved by the Mastery and the twins, Bowman and Kestrel, are separated. Following her people, Kestrel is picked up by the Gang wedding party and uses her friendship with the princess to help when Bowman takes on the Master.

This is a remarkable, and sometimes violent, fantasy which, though ponderous in places, is mostly powerful and richly characterised.