When we last left Stephen, he managed to start eking out a bit of a life as a locator for a drucraft company that deals in wells of essentia around London. While most locators rely on specialized sigls to help them trace down the places where magical power pools, Stephen appears to have the rare ability to actually see essentia. While this talent has led him to quite a few wells to sell his employer, it hasn't exactly made him wealthy, especially when compared to his mother's family, the Ashfords. What it has allowed him to do though is hone his ability to make his own sigls, and considering the amount of trouble he keeps finding himself in, that's a good thing.
By the end of An Inheritance of Magic (Book 1 of this series), there were two shoes that were waiting to drop; one was a meeting with Stephen's estranged mother and the other was a meeting with Byron, a man claiming to know the location of Stephen's father. While Stephen's first encounter with his mother since he was a baby leaves him somewhat cold, Byron's meeting ends up leading to even more questions.
It seems Byron not only has some sway over the younger Ashfords, but he claims to belong to an organization that could help even a poor person like Stephen gain both wealth and power. Of course, all Stephen really wants is information about his missing father, and Byron knows that. Byron uses tidbits about the man's history as a carrot to manipulate Stephen. While Stephen sees this, he has to decide how far into bed with Byron's group he wants to get in order to learn what he wants. Unfortunately, it seems that there is substantial risk involved in joining Byron's organization and Stephen will find himself in more than one life-or-death situation because of his involvement with Byron. Stephen is going to have to come up with some pretty clever sigls in order to stay one step ahead of his assailants if he is going to survive this book.
Unfortunately, while Stephen's working life was going well up to this point, he gets hit with a roadblock when he finds himself suspended. In An Instruction in Shadow, Stephen will have to learn about the darker underbelly of the drucraft world if he is going to make ends meet, and that might include working for raiding companies and stealing claimed wells.
There is one potential job on the horizon that appears to be both lucrative and above board. It seems his cousin, Calhoun, the current heir to House Ashford, is hiring him to be a bodyguard while he entertains the daughter of another noble house. As much as Stephen wants to stay away from the Ashfords, until he gets his suspension as a locator lifted, he can't be too picky about the jobs he takes.
While An Instruction in Shadow adds a little lore to the magic system in Inheritance of Magic, what it really does is add to the political machinations of the drucraft world. Where the first book introduced readers to essentia, sigls and wells, this one delves deeper into the corporations, houses and secret organizations that rule the magical side of London. While Stephen tries to stay an independent operator and not take any sides, he is quickly finding himself forced to make some hard decisions. Of course, he will always butt heads with the Ashfords, but with Byron's group being thrown into the mix, and his own vocation becoming a big question mark, Stephen will find himself in even more precarious positions than he was in during the first book.
An Instruction in Shadow: Inheritance of Magic - Book 2 is a fantastic follow-up to the previous book. This is quickly becoming one of my favorite new series, especially in the urban fantasy genre. If you want to explore a new magic system in a world filled with political intrigue, then you should check out this series.
