a solid follow up to an intriguing beginning!

Societies develop in different ways. On Arcandis, an outpost of Earth, communities had been formed under the threat of the Infernam, a condition of extreme heat visited once every six years, as the planet Helion passes within orbit. Actions are driven or tempered by the Infernam, that time when the planet burns so hot that all outside are scorched and die horribly. Only those who can secure a place in The Refuge survive. That place is earned and held by trial, by belonging, by bribery, by any means possible.
It's been three years since Bowe earned a place for the Bellingers when he survived the testing time on The Green Path [The Narrowing Path].
He has not carved out the place for the Bellingers he had thought to. The Bellangers do not have an empire and hope of returning them to their original place is fading. Other family's are looking to displace them.
His latest venture looks to fail spectacularly. On that note it looks like Bowe's pack of card will come tumbling down. His realization that he has squandered the three years he'd had is slow to register.
Barely escaping with his life ahead of the Dulnato, his enemy from the Path, of the Grenier family, Bowe flees from the city after meeting with Coensaw the leader of the Guild, a powerful underbelly group in the society. Bowe runs into bandits and takes refuge as a scribe in a farming community where he begins to see things that might aid his cause. Then there's the invading army from Jarind led by Washima. This group from the neighbouring country were so shocked by the way Arcandis society works and it's way of dealing with the Infernam they took up arms to free the Aarcandis people from tyranny. The Arcandis people feel differently. They want self determination, not others making war on their our land. Theirs is the choice for their way of life. It is not for others to invade and make that decision for them.
Once more Bowe takes a hand in the game of harmony, albeit belatedly, and decides on a course of action.

A NetGalley ARC ( )