Author TJ Hapney

Description/Blurb:

Civilisation clings to the ribbon of life in the shadow of gargantuan towers that hold the world together.

Caught between the loyalty to his friends and his thirst for revenge, Florus walks the thin line between government and rebellion. On one of the largest assignments of his career, Florus marches towards betrayal — whose? Only he can choose.

After her family was killed, Terielle was abandoned by a ruling House. Languishing in the slums, the young puppeteer cultivates a shadow-talent that will change the world.

Cultists run rampant. The Houses are profligate. There are no heroes.

Review 4 of 5 Stars

Sorry so long since the last post. I was sick and then hit a string of really bad books I couldn’t even manage to finish. It’s rare, but happens. Fortunately, next on the list was The Steelbound Sun. I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review quite some time ago. I was torn on this one for a couple of reasons, but I want to begin with the good portion of this review before I get into the picking it apart portion.

This was a really good story. Some characters were more complex than others, but overall they were well done. This story had some pretty interesting and original ideas, which I really enjoyed. The story follows two main characters and their points of view. Terrielle is a young shadow puppeteer who finds herself thrust into major events between the Houses. Florus is an auditor with a secret. Both have colorful and competent companions along the way. Plots abound in the fantastical land where aetern can be drawn from the very structures we use to build life in order to create shadow constructs and cultists are determined to bring down the star in the sky. Obviously you would have to read the story to get the references related to the characters’ professions and the aetern used to produce shadow constructs, etc.

There were some problems with the copy I received. I generally deduct a point for missing words or wrong word usage throughout a book because I feel that proofing and editing are an important part of producing independent books. In this case, I am not deducting the point for several reasons. The story rose above the mistakes as far as I’m concerned and I hope to see more stories in this world from Ken Lim, but I would like to see more attention given to proofing.