[2] It is the middle volume of The Interdependency trilogy and a sequel to The Collapsing Empire;[3] the third and final book, The Last Emperox, was published on 14 April 2020.

Tasked by Grayland II with the upkeep of the House of Nohamapetan's business affairs on Hub, Kiva becomes a hindrance to the Countess's plans for regaining wealth and political favour.

Nadashe is covertly sprung from imprisonment through the efforts of the Nohamapetan and Wu conspirators, who stage the incident as a failed escape attempt with no survivors.

Learning the identities of the traitors, she invites them to a party and proceeds to honour and promote her allies, Kiva and the Archbishop of the Church, and denounce and arrest the rest.

Its reviews were largely positive and said that "sits perfectly in its second-book role, leaving the reader deeply invested in the developing story, with plenty left to tell" but that it "falls into a tired mode" part way through before the storytelling "brights" again.