In which Kezzi and Malda do not get to go out.

New novel, new set of characters; it’s not even clear until nearly the end of the chapter that we’re still on Surebleak, around the same time as the last novel. (In fact we seem to have wound back a bit from where Ghost Ship ended, if the attack on Miri is still fresh news.)

We have heard of the Bedel once before, not recently: one of the protagonists of “Eleutherios” was a member of that group, though it wasn’t clear in detail then what that meant. Doubtless, there will be more room for detail as this novel progresses.

Kezzi stands out a bit by virtue of having a dog; characters in this series are more likely to be cat people. In fact, I’m not sure Malda isn’t the first dog to actually appear.