A Kingdom for a Stage by Heidi HeiligMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
In the middle of Heidi Heilig's second series, the sophomore entry in her first trilogy, it took me a few moments to remember a lot of details from For a Muse of Fire - details that were plenty, even if that ARC I read in summer 2018 was a little short of finished artwork, maps, sheet music, etc. Reading A Kingdom for a Stage in finished form was a real improvement over that "maps TK" ARC for sure, though the story, this time, has a tendency to drag. That may owe a little bit to the fact that we're much more in the thick of things as far as the Chakran revolution goes. Jetta's necromantic powers make her quite an asset, but the Aquitans aren't going to let their colony go easily. Or quietly. An alternate 19th century this may be, but Heilig gives us some real steampunk twists to the action, giving the Aquitans some fearsome working avions that can easily carpet-bomb an entire village into oblivion - are we sure this is supposed to be the 19th century, or the Vietnam War? Either way, it fits Heilig's ongoing anti-colonialist theme to a T. Though Goodreads still doesn't list the third novel yet, I think we can rest assured it'll happen. Especially with that weapons-grade little cliffhanger...
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