Bringer of Dust is the second book of the Talents trilogy. I thought it was a pretty good followup to Ordinary Montsers.

I was sad that Komako and Alice were sidelined for most of the book. The scenes including them are good, but the focus is on Charlie’s journey. I hope the next book has a bit more with them – I enjoyed Alice as a character in the first book of the Talents.

I like Miro’s writing because it is wonderfully dark, but does not feel gritty. Instead, it is hopeful. Terrible things happen in these books: Marlowe is trapped in a hellish world full of dead things that hunt him; Komako bears witness to horrors that only cement her own sense of helplessness; the children of Cairndale are forced from their home time and time again by monsters. But even with a world arrayed against them, they build moments of happiness. They meet people who risk their lives to help them. That was something I needed to read right now.