A couple of years ago, Elizabeth Bear earned acclaim for her Eternal Sky trilogy: Range of Ghosts, Shattered Pillars, and Steles of the Sky. She’s returning to that world with The Stone in the Skull, the first installment of a new trilogy. The book follows The Gage, a brass automation created by a wizard, who’s found work as a mercenary. Accompanied by a former bodyguard and a priest, he carries a message from a powerful sorcerer to the leaders of Sarathai-tia, asking for assistance as war looms. Kirkus Reviews gave the book a star rating and says that the book “stands head and shoulders above nearly everything else” in a crowded field.
