The story picks up about one year after the final events of the first book but this time centres more around the characters of Odysseus, Kalliades and Banokles.
The plot revolves around the events that lead to the war between Agamemnon and Priam and the years leading up to the siege of Troy, it also details how friends become enemies and enemies become friends.
There are plenty of battles, all written with the usual descriptive excellence that makes them easy to visualise and is scattered with characters that are engaging or likeable and occasionally both.
There is a nice twist at the start of the book surrounding Helikaon and how his predicament is overcome which shows how knowledge can be perceived as mysticism.
If you enjoyed the first book, and how could you not, then you will love this.