Review copy provided by the publisher.
This is a rerelease (coming this fall!) of the author’s preferred edition of this 2000 fantasy novel.
Maskelle is supposed to be the Voice of her god, but they’ve had a falling out. She misinterpreted a vision in a way that angered the powers that be, and she’s been a cursed outcast ever since. Her journeys with a band of players are taking her back where her god wants her, back in the city that is the center of his worship.
And the god wants her there for a reason. The ritual that renews the world every year–with particular emphasis on this year’s centenary observation–is going awry no matter how they try to fix it. Maskelle has been out in the world, her connection with the god at least used to be the most powerful–surely she’s the right choice to set the world right.
This is about as big a job as you might expect. Add in a cursed puppet for the traveling players and all sorts of personal complications for the swordsman they meet along the way, and there’s a recipe for a giant shitstorm at the end. Which happens, which definitely happens, and the climax comes together as only Martha Wells books can.