“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.”
Picking up from where volume 1 left off, this volume follows Klein’s adventures as he leaves Tingen City and heads to Backlund, the ‘Land of Hope’. Backlund is the central stage for most of the happenings which take place in volume 2.
As Klein Moretti was ‘dead’, he assumes the identity of the detective ‘Sherlock Moriarty’, and so it begins.
The events are quite intense from the get go. Quite early on, Klein faces off against Rosago, a Sequence 5 Marionettist of the Seer Pathway, and this drags him into a conflict involving the Intis Ambassador to the Loen Kingdom.
This event, along with other big events of the novel like the Capim plotline, Amon and the City of Silver, Duke Negan’s assassination, Twilight Hermit Order, Rose Redemption, Ince Zangwill and his involvement with Trissy (Demoness Sect), Prince Edessak (Royal Family), Mr A. (Aurora Order), Mr. Azik coming back; all of these opened up the world a lot more and explored a good bit of the lore.
The general plot surrounding the events was quite good too, with the progression feeling natural and smooth. My favorite has to be Derrick and the City of Silver’s plotline. It was so exciting to see Amon finally introduced and Klein vs Amon (kinda) taking place.
And the way most of the events each added a bit to the Fool plotline surrounding Klein was amazing. Amon knowing of the Fool, Arrodes addressing Klein as ‘the great existence above the spirit world’, there being stairs above the gray fog representing Klein’s progression through the Sequences, divinities such as Lilith and the Yellow Light involving ‘The Fool’ in their prophecies – and both of them pointing towards the Apocalpyse; that was definitely the aspect I liked the most about the volume. I’m really inclined towards the notion that there’s destiny at hand in Klein’s choosing of the Seer Pathway.
There’s a lot of future plot points established too, like Will Auceptin and the Angel of Mercury (possibly involving Ourobors too), the other copper whistle Klein found which probably belongs to an Angel, Flegrea – I know it’s gonna take time for these to be explored but I am seated.
Another aspect of this volume I appreciate is the symbolism behind ‘Faceless’. Not only does it represent Klein’s advancing to the Sequence, but it also explores how Klein has always been a Faceless, adapting to his environment and taking on a different personality, right from his transmigration, he went from being Zhou Mingrui to Klein Moretti and then Sherlock Moriarty.
And more importantly, it represents all the ‘faceless’ people of East Borough, like Old Kohler, Liv and the others. People who are only counted by their numbers, not by their name or even a face, which was even more evident through their ‘gravestones’.
The way the author explored this theme by making Old Kohler such a relevant character and exploring so much of East Borough, it’s just amazing writing.
It was saddening to see Kohler die, even more so as he didn’t even get to eat good food even once, but that kind off just reinforces the fate of these ‘faceless’ people and I love how it fits in with the overall theme of this volume.
And as always, the Tarot Club was manipulating the events behind the scenes, now they really have that secret organization vibe going on for them, love to see it.
Sherlock Moriarty, Fors Wall and Emlyn White joined as The World, The Magician and The Moon, would definitely be a sight to see Emlyn in the future gatherings with his ‘interesting’ personality.
Of the new characters introduced, Sharron gotta be my favorite. She’s strong, really helpful, is quite friendly towards Klein and has a funny but cool personality. Can’t wait to see more of her and Maric.
As for the plot surrounding ‘The Great Smog of Backlund’ was crazy. Royal family, Trissy, Mr. A, Ince Zangwill, all these seemingly unrelated parties were involved in something that huge.
I feel like Trissy will be friendly to Klein in the future so can’t wait to see where that goes.
The royal family was definitely plotting something devious though, and they seem to have succeeded so let’s see about that too.
The best thing has to be Klein killing Lanevus though, praying for the day Ince Zangwill suffers the same fate.
Overall, a really solid volume with good characters, plot and exploration of the lore.
Onto Traveler now!