I read the first volume of this last year, when it was nominated for a Hugo, and didn’t quite buy it. I thought this second volume, also Hugo-nominated, was much improved; a fairly straightforward story arc about families and conflict, with a little bit of magic and interplanetary skullduggery. I still found the plot a bit unsurprising (one element in particular reminded me of the old saying about the pistol on the mantelpiece), but it is lifted immensely by Staples’ superb art.