The slave: a criminal? The master: a slave? For love and honor’s sake …

In a last-ditch attempt to find his kidnapped son, Duke Vahn sends his most trusted servant to pose as a runaway slave in the hostile country of Ganluc. Meanwhile, the challenge he faces at home is no less daunting. This beautiful story is full of images: servitude in leadership, ungrudging chivalry, and a love that endures through adversity.

Book 2 of The Ascendancy Trilogy series, fantasy for adult readers.

Review:

Everyone’s in danger in Caprice Hokstad’s 2nd volume of The Ascendancy Trilogy. Kee, Captain Shil, and healer Pharn Patkus have a new plan to locate Dauntere, the duke’s missing son, in enemy territory. Meanwhile, Countess Delorae has plans to become the new mistress of Rebono Keep, whether Duke Vahn wants her or not.

Nor Iron Bars a Cage is the perfect sequel to The Duke’s Handmaid. We get to know and love the characters even more, including the arrogant Duke Vahn, who finally gets a taste of his own medicine…and more.

I was also surprised and pleased to see a couple of more Christian overtones coming into play in book 2. They are very subtle, but one character’s actions for another can only remind us of Christ’s sacrifice for us, and the mages begin to reveal a different side of Latoph’s religion.

~Rev. Steve Wilson