Mossa and Pleiti are back! Take a Sherlock Holmes style mystery (gaslamps, lots of fog, some terribly repressed people) but set it far in the future, on huge platforms that orbit the planet Jupiter, where humanity settled after we wrecked Earth so badly we couldn’t stay. Add in a University setting and the subsequent academic jockeying, rivalry, and backstabbing, and you’ve got yourself a potent combination!
Book 2 in the series sees Mossa looking into the disappearance of Stravan, a student at Valdegeld University where Pleiti is a professor. Pleiti agrees to help Mossa in another investigation, and together they discover that more than a dozen students, scholars, and employees have gone missing from the university. Stravan and another missing student grew up on Io, so we get to follow along as Mossa and Pleiti travel to the moon colony to investigate. Soon they discover that at least one of the students is not missing, but murdered. And shortly thereafter, an attempt is made on Pleiti’s life as well. As they try to find out what happened to the missing University members, Pleiti gets more embroiled in University politics, and events from the first book still have lingering effects.
Malka does a phenomenal job building this world. In this book we get to explore a new territory for the reader, the moon colony on Io. We learn even more about humanity’s journey from Earth to Jupiter, and Pleiti begins to question whether we as a species have become to comfortable on our new planet, and whether we should be working harder to get back to Earth. Mossa and Pleiti’s relationship continues to deepen, and it is delightful watching them become closer as adults than they were able to grow as students. And overall the book is just so cozy. Lots of fireplaces, lots of steaming cups of tea, simply delightful.
The weakest part of this book is the mystery itself. It’s not bad, it certainly propels the plot along, but the reveal of the villain just kind of falls flat, especially when compared to the thrilling climax of the first book. It’s not the end of the world to only have a so-so mystery when the rest of the book is so delightful. It’s just something to note.
