Hexes Fly – Jenny Schwartz

An enjoyable sequel to “Stars Die”. The author continues to walk a fine and interesting line by making the protagonist politically savvy - not in a manipulative sense, but in the sense of understanding that success requires working with other people who have their own agendas and priorities. (The Parliament is only successful to the extent that it can make this happen on a large scale.)

“Hexes Fly” is something of a middle book (in case it being book two in a trilogy didn’t give this away). There is a largely-self-contained plot: A bunch of young magicians cast what they think are prank hexes, not realizing that they have been deluded into using nastier curses. Two add narrative pressure, only a few days remain before the curses become permanent.

In keeping with the political theme, the protagonist does not pull a rabbit out of a hat to solve the problem. In fact, she has a potential rabbit, and potential allies have been hinting strongly that she should leave her rabbits in their hat and let the experts work the problem.

There is minimal progress in the larger story, beyond growing evidence that something nasty is looming in the backgroound. That would be book three, which is due towards the end of 2025.