Our heroine from ‘Geomancer’ returns in Part 2 of ‘The Well Of Echoes’ quartet. There's a clue then that very little will be resolved with two more books to follow.

No matter, Tiaan, Nish, Irisis and Ullii all have their parts to play in the history of Santhenar.

Following a foolish belief in the man of her dreams, Tiaan has allowed an army of conquest access to Santhenar. Humanity is already fighting a losing battle against the powerful Lyrinx and another player makes the odds against peace breaking out any time soon fairly unlikely.

Tiaan, having let the Aachim through the gate, is branded a traitor and Nish is determined to bring her to justice. Tiaan manages to get away in a construct left by the Aachim. Better still, she is able to make it fly. A skill the Aachim have lost which evens up the odds between the opposing forces.

She determines to deliver the construct to her own side despite fears for her personal safety. The amplimet she has been using since its discovery in the mine guides her instead to Booreah Ngurgle and its strange inhabitant Gilhaelith, who also has more than a passing interest in the construct and the amplimet.

Forced onto a different path, Nish starts to develop into a character that the reader can relate to and start to admire. Irisis also becomes much more admirable and works to the good of Santhenar. Even Ullii comes out of her extreme self-seclusion as she develops a fierce loyalty to Nish. Behind them all is the power of Jal-Nish, father of Nish, and he has a personal hatred of all the players, including his son.

Ian Irvine is constructing a team of people who will work together by the final instalment and solve all the problems. They seem to be moving closer and the narrative thread is becoming more insistent. In the lattice that only Ullii can see, they all form knots. Each one is moving through challenges that continue to make them better humans. Together, they will have the knowledge that will unlock the final conflicts.

Families are disintegrating and friends and lovers form new allegiances. It is about difference and similarity, intolerance, education and eliminating the differences that make us enemies. It also looks like the lyrinx will have something to share with us in the next instalment.

Irvine writes grippingly and the narrative moves at a good pace although occasionally I became lost in the lattice myself especially when Tiaan is building the construct and when she is learning about geomancing. As the narrative switches between the main cast with pleasing regularity it builds up to a suitable cliff-hanging finish that leads nicely up to the next instalment.

Sue Davies