Summary
Lissa comes to the capital of Ylia, Stann-over-Kenth, to find her mother. The City, however, is not small--nor is it safe. Lissa has to learn the ins and outs of a complicated and dangerous world in order to accomplish her mission. But things get worse as disease ravages the City and unease begins to make it clear that dark stirrings are going on behind the scenes.
Magic system
This isn't an actual sequel to Conduits but it's in the same world of Taralys. As a result, it made the magic system in this book easier and more difficult. On the one hand, I knew what the magic of Taralys could do, as well as how it was fueled. On the other hand, however, it's difficult to see how to use the magic in new ways. For Conduits, the magic is explored as a new thing for the characters. Here, everyone is familiar with it--it's mundane to them. Figuring out how to make an entire culture treat individual magic abilities with the same level of investment as we do with our technology was a challenge. Nevertheless, I feel like I expanded on the ideas I began with, making this pocket of Taralys well-rounded.
Background
I love London, and part of what I love of that city is its energy and movement. It's steeped in history and personality. It has a sprawling, organic sense that I wanted to emulate. Additionally, I was reading James Shapiro's Year of Lear and was entranced by his observation that the Gunpowder Plot was a terrorist attack that never actually happened--the attack was stopped before anything could explode.
Using Jacobean history as a start, I put together a new city (based on the figure of the City of London) and generated a conspiracy with the Gunpowder Plot as inspiration.
I also hoped to write a mystery, since I've never tried that genre before. On that front, it isn't very mysterious, but it I found that trying to make it as tightly structured as a mystery ought to be helped the story with its focus and direction.
Using Jacobean history as a start, I put together a new city (based on the figure of the City of London) and generated a conspiracy with the Gunpowder Plot as inspiration.
I also hoped to write a mystery, since I've never tried that genre before. On that front, it isn't very mysterious, but it I found that trying to make it as tightly structured as a mystery ought to be helped the story with its focus and direction.