FAIR WARNING: This review has spoilers for Dust and Light.
I am late in reviewing this novel; it's been nearly a year and a half since I read Dust and Light. That means that the details of the mythology and the events of that first book have receded in memory to the point that getting into Ash and Silver was very difficult at first. Then, I realized that I had to put myself in Greenshank's place—a man with no memory of his life before he arrived at Fortress Evanide, the headquarters of the Equites Cineré, the Order of the Knights of the Ashes. Even though this approach eventually worked for me, I do recommend that you read these books back to back. The mythology is extremely dense, and the plots are complex, so it's best to keep the amount of time between books to the very minimum.
As the book opens, Greenshank has been given only a few memories of his previous life, but not enough to know who he was or why he agreed to be sent to the Order. After a rough period of adjustment, "I had grown to relish Evanide's rigor, living and breathing the lessons of magical warfare, preparing to combat the evils of a world I could recall only in the abstract. Every day I reveled in the satisfaction of growing strength and agility. And the magic seared my soul with wonder and glory...Our masters had made us empty so we could learn without boundaries." The members of the Order greet each other with the phrase, Dalle Cineré, which means "from the ashes." This phrase relates metaphorically to the phoenix myth—the great bird rising anew from its own ashes. Keep this in mind as you follow Greenshank through his adventures.
As the plot unwinds, Greenshank has to decide which of his superiors to trust, which to distrust, and which to fear. In the beginning, Greenshank fully trusts only two: his guide/trainer, Knight Commander Inek, and Fix, the boat master. The three ruling Knights of the Order are as follows. Can any of them be trusted?
> The Knight Marshall, the leader of the Order.
> The Knight Archivist, the record-keeper and guardian of the relicts—the spelled stone fragments that hold the memories of the members of the Order until they are either restored or destroyed, depending on each person's position in the Order and the choices he makes.
> The Knight Defender, the Order's final bastion. He has more magical power than any other in the Order.
Like the first book, this one is divided into four sections:
After two hard years living a life tougher than the infamous U.S. Marine boot camp, Greenshank has hardened into a strong, skilled, masked warrior with powerful and ever-growing magic talent. One day, Greenshank is sent on a solo mission to an isolated estuary where a beautiful Danae woman named Morgan accosts him, demanding to know where he has been. She implies that they have been lovers in the past. At first, Greenshank believes that, "she could not possibly know me. Wherever the knights had recruited me, they would have ensured we were not followed, bringing the full power of the Order's memory magic to bear on anyone who tried. Anonymity was our lifeblood. Our safety. Our first and strongest weapon." When Greenshank finally convinces Morgan that his memories have been erased, she tells him that his real name is Lucian and claims that her people meed his counsel. Morgan appears and disappears frequently during Greenshank's missions throughout the remainder of the book, sometimes accompanied by her hostile father, Tuari.
When Greenshank returns from his mission, he meets with the Marshall and with a Curator of the Registrar named Damon, who takes a particular interest in Greenshank's training and his missions. Why is the Marshall allowing a Registry member to interfere with Greenshank's training? What is Damon up to? Do Damon and Greenshank have a history? These are all questions that Greenshank must investigate. Then the Marshall meets with Greenshank alone, telling him the history of the Order and its connection to a mystical city named Xancheira, which disappeared centuries ago with all its inhabitants. At this point, Xancheira and its people become an important plot element.
>> Part II: The Teeth of Spring
In the meantime, Navronne's three princes (Perryn, Bayard, and Osriel) are battling one another for the throne of their recently deceased father. Damon sends Greenshank out to spy on Osriel, who turns out to be a dangerously powerful dark sorcerer. On the way to this mission, Morgan takes Greenshank on a side trip to meet up with the coroner, Bastien, Lucian's former employer/partner from book 1, and the two reunite as friends and allies. At this point, Morgan's father, Tuari, appears, ready to kill Greenshank for deeds he claims were done by Lucian. Greenshank makes an agreement with Tuari to keep him informed of any meetings he has with the Danai woman marked in silver who appeared to Lucian in a vision (in book 1). Bastien then takes Greenshank to the home of the Circerons and tells him that story (also from book 1). The section ends with Inek's being caught in a magical trap when he tries to access Greenshank's relict for information about his past, leaving Inek in a magical coma. At this point, Greenshank discovers some heart-breaking information about his relict, the stone fragment that holds his memories. Damon allows Greenshank to view a terrible scene from his past. The focus in this section is on giving Greenshank much more information about his former life.
>> Part III: Shattered Stars
Inek remains in a coma, and Greenshank takes his place as guide/trainer to two of his comrades. He learns more about Damon's personal history, making him more and more distrustful of Damon's motives. He sneaks away for meetings with Morgan and Bastian. He learns the true identity of the Knight Defender and meets yet another Registry Curate, who begs him to leave the Order and gives him even more information about his past. By now, Greenshank mistrusts most of his superiors. He makes his first trip through a portal door and finds people to save and a mission that he must complete on his own. The story lines involving Sanctuary and Xancheira move into primary positions. Greenshank suspects that Damon, the Marshal, and the Archivist are secretly working together, but that they also have their own individual agendas. At times, he believes that he can trust one or more of them, but he's never quite sure. Bastian sums up Greenshank's dilemma: "Curator Damon's plot and the Danae mystery. Same as two years ago. You're further along the path but still without a map to either one." In this section, Greenshank is pulled further and further into the political machinations of his superiors and the Xancheira mission he has set for himself, which involves multiple trips back and forth through portals.
>> Part IV: The Glory to Banish Grief
In this section, all questions are answered, all villains are unmasked, and all heroes are revealed. Greenshank arises from his own metaphorical ashes and embraces his destiny.
Throughout this book, Greenshank/Lucian is on a journey that takes him—and sometimes his allies—into treacherous waters (both literally and figuratively) and eventually reveals the answers to dark secrets, both personal and historic. Trying to summarize the plot would be pointless because it twists and turns back upon itself time and time again as Greenshank tries to determine how to use his developing powers of magic for the greater good and who can be trusted to help him stay alive long enough to achieve his goals.
This novel is equally as strong as the first, bringing Lucian/Greenshank's story to a satisfying close, but leaving room for more, perhaps another duet focusing on one or more of the secondary characters from the SANCTUARY DUET. I'm sure that Juli's story (Lucian's sister) would be quite interesting, as would that of Fallon (a character in both of the SANCTUARY books). Berg is a terrific story teller, and in Ash and Silver, she outdoes herself. She keeps the suspense at tense levels as her lead character tries to do the right thing even though he's out of his depth much of the time. The final section—the big finale—is masterfully constructed. Like Greenshank, I didn't know which characters were trustworthy until the big showdown scene when all of the their true agendas were revealed.
Click HERE to go to go to the Amazon.com page for Ash and Silver where you can click on the cover art to read an excerpt.
Ever since the Order of the Equites
Cineré stole his memory, his name, and his heart, thinking about the past
makes Greenshank’s head ache. After two years of rigorous training, he is
almost ready to embrace the mission of the Order—to use selfless magic to heal
the troubles of Navronne. But on his first assignment alone, the past comes
racing back, threatening to drown him in conspiracy, grief, and murder.
