Just finished A Blight of Blackwings by Kevin Hearne. It’s the second in a series, and I like them both.

The general premise is that there has been a war on the continent, and a bard is telling the story of the war through narration as the various characters. There’s a nice meta-element to it, in that he’s an unreliable narrator and only can tell the parts he actually knows about. (For instance, one character is a narrative character in the first book, because he has his journal stolen. In the second, he’s no longer a main character.)

The world-building is interesting, and the magic system is particularly nice. There are various physical locations in the world (whirlpools, volcano, etc) and anybody who wants can throw themselves into one and either die or come out Blessed with element-based (fire, water, air, earth, plant, animal) powers. There are various types and levels of Blessed, and if anybody over-uses magic, they age. Some of the most powerful magic users are pretty much held in reserve until absolutely neessary, because going full out is a death sentence.

I think I liked the plotting a little more in the first book, but overall I like the continuing story a lot. I’m really curious where it’s going, especially since there’s a pretty strong hint what the fabled “Seventh Kenning” is.

One minor quibble - some of the characters talk like they’re 21st century Americans. Calling a specific brand of whiskey “the Good Shit”, saying something is “The best”, etc. Overall characters talk like real people, but sometimes the phrasing was a little jarring. Also happens with some Brandon Sanderson books, like Lift saying she “Unleashes her awesome” in Edgedancer.

Next up: Peace Talks, the newest Dresden book by Jim Butcher.