Second book in The Vagrant Trilogy.
Ten years after the Vagrant brought Gamma's sword to the Shining City, the Breach stirs again. The Malice senses this, and calls to the Vagrant to take it up again, but he repeatedly refuses. His daughter Vesper, seeing the damage this is doing to him, takes the sword to the Shining City to find someone else to bear it—only for it to be declared that she is the new Bearer, and must travel to the Breach to finish the mission.
Vesper travels back through the same path her father took ten years ago, seeing the changes wrought upon the world by the death of the Usurper and the Uncivil. Meanwhile, the half-breed Samael struggles to understand his identity and purpose, and the First hounds Vesper to destroy the Malice once and for all.
And in the south, the infernal known only as the Yearning spreads farther and farther from the Breach.
This novel provides examples of:
- Action Survivor: Vesper goes from a little girl who just wants her father to be left alone to a leader and inspiration to both infernals and men. At the end of the book, she and the Malice even usurp control of the Empire from the Six, since they refuse to get off their thrones and actually do anything.
- All-Loving Hero: Vesper sees the good in everyone even demonic beings and thugs that had just ambushed her. She'd be the one to make peace with some of the less hostile Infernal factions.
- Brainwashing for the Greater Good:
- Massassi quickly learned how to manipulate essence to force people to obey her. Pushing too hard created minions who were loyal but inflexible; it's implied that this is why the Six are so useless without Gamma, as they literally can't comprehend a world without her.
- On a more mundane note, Massassi taught her Seraph Knights special mental exercises to help them resist the infernal taint. It also makes them inflexible, though not so insanely so. Massassi is aware that her Knights won't be useful for much outside of fighting infernals, but considers it a small price to pay. Once again, it's implied that part of the problem with the Empire is that the Knights ended up in charge of everything, which was a role they were never designed for.
- Chekhov's Skill: The kid and his obsession with climbing everything. When Vesper is trapped in the canyon left by the sealed Breach, she can't see a way out, but he can. She follows his path up the side of the cliff.
- The Dreaded: With the Usurper dead, something huge is coming through the breach. This is the Yearning and it's so powerful that the other infernals scatter when they sense its presence. The infernals also greatly fear Gamma's sword and have given it the epithet "The Malice".
- From Nobody to Nightmare: Massassi was just a talented ten-year old chosen to be a mechanic working on mechs. After an accident that costed her arm, she develops her nascent supernatural powers and forges the Empire of the Winged Eye.
- Good Is Not Nice: Massassi, the first human to manipulate essence and the creator of the Empire of the Winged Eye, fought to protect the world from the infernals. She was also acerbic, unhappy, and willing to do anything it took to unite the world under her rule to survive the coming war. At least she felt guilty for the atrocities she committed, which is better than the Seven and the Seraph Knights.
- Here We Go Again!: Once again a child, a goat and a warrior of the Winged Eye are on a quest involving Gamma's sword.
- Nuclear Option: Massassi's Empire of the Winged Eye was up against the megacorporations that ruled the world. She knew she'd eventually win, but believed the Breach would open in 25 years and so she couldn't afford a protracted war. In her arsenal she had weapons that were useless against the Infernals but devastating against humans, a large quantity of nukes. So she fired her nukes without warning and caught her enemies completely off-guard with them. The end result was the whole world capitulating to the Empire
- Orcus on His Throne: The Six are still trapped in mourning over Gamma's death, and refuse to do anything even when the Malice demands it of them. When Vesper yells at them on the Malice's behalf, they finally wake up, angry that a mere mortal would give them such insult, but even that takes years.
- Red Baron: Humans just refer to the sword as Gamma's sword and it has no name from them. But to the infernals, the sword is known as The Malice.
- The Unmasqued World: Over a thousand, one hundred and sixteen years ago from the events of "The Malice", only one uniquely powered human, Massassi became aware of an invisible portal leaking alien energies into our world. From this event, Massassi worked towards making humanity aware of an incoming demonic invasion and giving humans the means to destroy the infernals. Before this, the Earth is no different than any other cyberpunk dystopia.
