An Echo of Things to Come Redraws the Map of an Expansive Trilogy
With the arrival of the second installment of James Islington’s Licanius trilogy, it’s clearer than ever—despite the expansive worldbuilding and ever-growing cast of characters—that the real heart of this doorstopper story is all that we don’t know.
Last year, The Shadow of What Was Lost introduced us to Andarra, a realm unknowingly on the brink of war, and a magical tinderbox just looking for a spark. Twenty years after a conflict that overthrew ruling demi-gods the Augers, relations between the mundanes and the Gifted are far from blossoming—even as unknown forces mass at the Boundary, the magical wall between Andarra and its rather unpleasant neighbors.
Things aren’t exactly looking up as we resurface in An Echo of Things to Come, which picks up the story a month or so after the first volume’s devastating, climactic attack on Ilin Illan. In this middle installment, the series’ core trio spends most of their time split up, attempting to solve different mysteries from the past and engineer separate solutions to the present crisis.
In the wake of his father’s death, Wirr—or, as he’s better known, Prince Torin—has been made Northwarden and, thus, given far more power than most Gifted can otherwise claim. He’s used his position to declare amnesty for all Augurs, in the hopes more like Davian will turn up and find a way to strengthen the failing Boundary. However, he’s up against an Administration and a political machine still uncomfortable with the thought of Gifted, let alone Augurs, running around in the open. Worse? Highest on his list of enemies: his own mother.
Davian, meanwhile, has traveled to Tol Shen to rendezvous and train with other identified Augurs. He’s having almost as much trouble with bureaucracy as Wirr—moving the Tol to act on behalf of the failing Boundary has proven harder than anyone anticipated. At the very least, he’s found some new Augurs, most of whom aren’t murderous and power-hungry.
As for Asha, she’s been made a representative in the Assembly, a high platform for a Shadow, but one that doesn’t necessarily carry much decision-making weight. Her particular sleuthing centers mostly on the fates of the Shadows who disappeared after the attack on Ilin Illan, and on their newfound abilities. She’s dealing less with bureaucratic nightmares and more with the literally nightmarish creatures this world has to offer.
In their brief moments together, almost always under some state of duress, Asha, Davian, and Wirr continue to remind us how the Harry Potter series might have read if its central trio had instead included Hermione, Harry, and Cedric Diggory. Each of them is expertly talented in their respective areas, which means the plot moves quickly even as it spends an inordinate amount of time in libraries. (I’m not complaining.) If you’re in search of a sense of humor or levity, though, these are not the heroes you’re looking for.
All of them are on quests for knowledge. There’s a probing nature to this interstitial volume, which brings us to, perhaps, the most important mystery of them all: the origin of Caeden. He’s bouncing around planes of existence, trying to recover the memories of his horrific past, which may hold the key to his former self’s plan to secure the Boundary—and much, much more.
Despite the many tearful and important reunions and farewells this novel holds, it’s Caeden’s quest that carries the most emotional weight, as well as most of the plot momentum. As each painful memory is restored, and as he runs afoul of old friends and enemies, he is forced to come to grips with his past actions and made to wonder whether he’s the same man he once was. It’s a touching struggle with identity that yields far more questions than answers, and that’s not a bad thing for this story.
Islington provides a refresher of sorts at the beginning of An Echo of Things to Come, and you’ll need it; the massive cast continues to grow, as does the map, the story escorting us to places erstwhile unknown to most in Andarra, never mind to readers.
Granted, as soon as you do catch up to the action, you’ll need to rip up all your notes. The world is well on its way to being remade in this middle novel, and there’s a lot of territory to cover before we find out what it’s going to look like.
An Echo of Things to Come is available August 22.