The story so far... Ruin of Angels
Last time on ‘Craft Sequence Story So Far’… we visited the tropical paradise of Kavekana, and followed investment banker priestess Kai as she uncovered the mystery of murdered idols. Also featuring poets spouting prophecy, more terrifying faceless cops, and the badass that is Izza. Read the article here, and then join us for RUIN OF ANGELS.
This post contains extensive spoilers for Ruin of Angels, some spoilers for the rest of the series, and expects the reader to have already read all currently published Craft Sequence books up to Dead Country.
Ruin of Angels
“What was that?”
“The God Wars.”
“I heard there was damage, but—” Heat wormed back int her body. She took a breath, and shivered—even her lungs were cold.
“The old city, the one that stood here before Agdel Lex, fell early in the wars. Gerhardt and his students made their first stand against the Gods here, and almost tore the world apart. Broke time itself. They say he’s still alive in that wound in the sky, still fighting. The Iskari saved what they could, sealed off the war zone, and built the city where we live. Sometimes, thought, people fall through. The Rectification Authority keeps things stable, but there are holes.”
Dramatis Personae
Our Leads
KAI POHALA - Priest slash investment banker from Kavekana, building and worshipping idols - and secretly a priestess of the Blue Lady. Trying to diversify her Order’s investment portfolio to get away from some of the dodgier clients.
ZEDDIG HALA - Daughter of an ancient High Family of Alikand, trying to regain her family’s legacy by delving into a dangerous, dead city and take down the Iskari occupying force.
IZZA JALAI - Priestess and prophet of the Blue Lady, no longer a street kid but still outside the power structures of the world.
The Delver Crew
RAYMET HAAZ - Grad school friend of Zeddig’s, part of her crew pulling heists in the dead city but not from the same background. Academic. In love with Gal.
GAL - Knight of Camlaan, living up to the good side of the legends and going against the bad. Beautiful, dangerous, literal.
LEY POHALA - Kai’s sister. Founder of Dreamspinner, a start-up in what we’d call tech and the Domain calls art. Has backstabbed a lot of people, including her ex Zeddig.
DREAMSPINNER AND THE ISKARI
EVANGELINE BESCOND - Lieutenant in the Rectification Authority. Searching for Ley, and the knife she stole.
GAVVI FONTAINE - Iskari banker who invited Kai to Agdel Lex. Constantly high. Hiding something?
ALETHEA VANE - Co-founder of Dreamspinner, happier than Ley to be funded by the Iskari and to destroy Alikand in favour of Agdel Lex.
TARA ABERNATHY - Craftswoman working with the Iskari and Dreamspinner. Clearly conflicted, but bound by contracts.
EBERHARDT JAX - Hot billionaire working with Dreamspinner and the Iskari to send a probe into space.
R’OK -Demon artist (literally, he’s a demon) working with Dreamspinner and bound by an ironclad NDA. Familiar if you’ve played Choice of the Deathless.
ASSORTED OTHERS
VOGEL - Underworld loan shark. Literal zombie.
UMAR AND HASIM - Doctors of divinity, last worshippers of their gods. Previously seen as refugees in Alt Coulumb, and previous associates of Izza.
ISAAK BONVENTURE - Izza’s childhood friend. Massively augmented to be super strong, and also reptilian. It’s a thing. Diehard believer of the Blue Lady.
MAESTRE GERHARDT - The first ever Craftsman who broke Agdel Lex. He remains at the heart of the city, refusing to die.
ARCHIVISTS - Elders of each of the High Families who keep Alikand alive. Can also turn into pretty damn cool angels.
THE BLUE LADY - New goddess born on Kavekana, goddess of the forgotten, the unwanted, the thieves and the refugees and the street kids.
SERIL - Moon goddess of Alt Coulumb, formerly deceased, getting back to full power.
What happens in Ruin of Angels?
KAI POHALA, publicly priestess of Kavekana and secretly priestess of THE BLUE LADY is on a trip seeking new investment opportunities, so her Order can divest from ethically and environmentally dubious Concerns. At the last minute she’s diverted to AGDEL LEX, an Iskari colony, the place from which her friend IZZA JALAI ran several years ago, and coincidentally where her sister LEY POHALA has lived for several years. They’re not in touch much - yet somehow Ley found out Kai was visiting, and managed to get a letter to her inviting her to dinner. When they meet, Ley tries to pitch her start-up to Kai, asking her sister for 16 million thaums. Kai turns her down, which in the long run turns out to not have been the best idea. Note to everyone: actually communicate to your siblings when asking for a huge favour.
Agdel Lex is a particularly weird, broken place in a world of weird, broken places. When Kai steps out of the airport, the city swims before her vision - three cities, somehow layered on top of one another. That’s why the Iskari are here, her contact GAVVI FONTAINE tells her. MAESTRE GERHARDT broke the city 150 years ago, and the Iskari came in to shore it up. There are indeed three cities: the modern Iskari city of Agdel Lex, the dead city beneath it, full of monsters and ice and dying angels, and a secret - illegal - in-between city of Alikand made by locals in defiance of the Iskari.
One such local is ZEDDIG HALA, currently engaged in the extremely illegal activity of delving into the dead city and returning with long lost, and therefore extremely valuable, items. Zeddig is from an old High Family that lost its wealth, power, and heritage when old Alikand died. She’s part of a long tradition fighting back, but the dead city is getting increasingly unstable and the Iskari Rectification Authority (AKA the Wreckers) are getting stronger. She primarily works with a grad school friend RAYMET HAAZ and a Camlaan Knight, GAL. For more on Gal, check out this entire article dedicated to her and the Knights. They work well together but have extremely different backgrounds and motivations. Zeddig will always prioritise old traditions and archives over a big score, whereas Raymet comes from a nothing background and doesn’t give a damn about the High Families. Gal, meanwhile, is a lethal weapon wrapped up in a woman, takes things incredibly literally, and is motivated mostly by honourable battle.
Oh, and Raymet is totally in love with Gal but hasn’t told her.
Speaking of love, Zeddig also happens to be Ley Pohala’s ex. After Kai turns down Ley’s request, Ley does the completely normal, understandable thing and stabs her business partner ALETHEA VANE, running off with Vane’s consciousness stored in a magical knife while Kai calls the police. Ley runs and hides with Zeddig in the hidden city. They haven’t spoken in a while - Zeddig showed Ley how to delve, and Ley turned that knowledge into a business. But now Ley is in trouble, and needs Zeddig and her crew for a major heist.
Back at the crime scene, Kai meets LIEUTENANT BESCOND, an Iskari invesigator, and TARA ABERNATHY, a Craftswoman currently working with the Wreckers on an undisclosed project. Bescond is about to arrest Kai when Fontaine appears with a contract giving Kai special status. Kai needs to stay longer to fulfil the contract, and to try to get Ley out of the trouble she’s in. With Fontaine’s help, she speaks to some of Ley’s colleagues, insofar as their Craftwork NDAs allow. She meets artist demon R’OK, who tells her about Zeddig.
After some debate, Raymet and Gal are in for Ley’s heist. Ley’s knife is a kind of technology that makes it easier to delve for longer, and she wants to use it to raid the Altus facility out in the God Wastes - an unpassable desert of dead and dying gods. It’s impossible. She offers that if they help her, she’ll get the delvers to the Anaxmander Stacks in the dead city - an ancient library now impossible to access even through delving. With the new need to get out into the Wastes, Zeddig goes loan shark VOGEL, to whom she’s deeply indebted, and agrees to help on an almost definitely suicidal train job out into the Wastes.
Izza shows up to help Kai, despite the danger she’ll be in whilst in Agdel Lex. A lot of her old contacts have moved on or been killed, but she finds an old friend ISAAK, a tough street kid now massively augmented and superhumanly strong. She gets in on the train job using his contacts, but is taken aback to realise he is a devotee of THE BLUE LADY. She doesn’t want him to look at her differently, so doesn’t reveal she’s the Prophet Thief. Kai meets Tara at the Temple of All Gods, run by priests who once helped Izza and who were caught up in the demon fight in Four Roads Cross - HASIM AND UMAR. Kai realises that Tara, though bound by a contract to the Iskari, isn’t happy with them and isn’t necessarily on their side.
The two of them get on the same train as the delvers, only to be confronted by Bescond. Kai manages to pray to Izza that it’s a set up, but it’s too late and the Wreckers arrive. The delver crew, using Ley’s knife, walk through the desert to a facility holding the item Ley needs. Bescond, Tara, and Kai make their own way there, with Kai getting a promise from Bescond to let Ley go in return for her knife. We hear the story of Gerhardt, Agdel Lex, and the forming of the God Wastes from different perspectives - can’t quote it all here because it’s super long, but you should re-read the section, it’s fantastic. It starts in Chapter 46.
Ley successfully gets what she needs, but SURPRISE! The Wreckers arrive. Bescond does hold up to her end of the bargain, letting Ley go in return for the knife; Ley and Zeddig limp off into the Wastes, while Bescond arrests everyone else. Izza and Isaak are sent to an orphanage. Gal and Raymet are taken to the Rectification Authority Tower to be tortured. Gal refuses to escape, as she has been bested in combat and it would go against her code of honour. Izza, on the other hand, is thrilled to have the opportunity for a jailbreak.
Meanwhile, Tara is bringing Alethea Vane back to life. Her consciousness had been stored in Ley’s life, which makes resurrection easy for a necromancer. Vane explains the project - she’s going to send the knife into orbit, and get everyone to see the same city at the same time. This will destroy both the dead city and Alikand, allowing the God Wastes to flood in, and kill everyone in those cities. Ley hadn’t been aware of this part of the plan, or the fact that the Iskari funded it; when she found out, she tried to buy Vane out but was thwarted at every turn. Asking Kai for 16 million thaums was her last ditch effort, and when that failed she tried to remove Vane from the equation and keep the knife out of Iskari hands.
Or tentacles. What’s the word for squid limbs?
Tara isn’t happy with the project either. She tells Kai that she needs data from the orbit; she need to listen to what’s out there. She’s bound by too many Craft contracts to actively fight against the Iskari, but she’ll do what she can.
The countdown is on to the launch and everyone is moving into position:
Zeddig gets captured by Bescond while covering for Ley, who is running through the Wastes to reach the launch facility
Raymet confesses her love for Gal, which changes the rules of the game: a true believer in chivalric love, Gal is able to now break out of prison to save her lady from a tower.
Izza breaks out of the orphanage with Isaak, who now knows she’s the Prophet Thief. She goes to the Temple of All Gods, and he goes to get backup.
Kai goes to EBERHARDT JAX, a billionaire businessman who’s part of the launch, to help her get into the facility. We need to talk about him in more detail, but that’s for another article… for now, just know that he knows the world is dying, is sceptical of the old ways and the new, and knows the world needs another way forward. His idea is going to another planet, so that’s cool.
Tara stands on the walls of Agdel Lex, ready to fight the dying godlings of the Wastes.
Zeddig asks her great-grandmother to call the other Archivists of the High Families, who will do what they can do fight back.
In the facility, Kai sneaks to the launch rocket and finds Ley about to go into orbit. She takes Ley’s place, so Ley can go and rescue Zeddig.
The rocket launches. Kai goes into orbit. The world gets weird.
As the God Wastes flood into Alikand, the anti-Iskari rebels fight back. Ley, Raymet and Gal delve, trying to get as close to the Wound and Gerhardt (always dying, never dead) as possible so they can reach Zeddig in the same location in Agdel Lex. The Archivists turn into angels and fly into battle for the first time in 150 years. Tara, Hasim, Umar and Izza pray and fight back; they are joined by Isaak and dozens of street kids, all wearing the Blue Lady’s token. The forgotten, the unwanted, and the invisible are here to fight alongside their Prophet.
Ley rescues Zeddig; Gal gets closes to Gerhardt and tries to kill him. Raymet can’t lose her, and runs into the Wound after her, to her almost certain death.
The Blue Lady isn’t one for last stands. She’s a thief. She runs. So Izza runs, and the gods of the wastes chase her - and the Blue Lady makes them Hers.
Gerhardt finally dies. Raymet loses her hand, but keeps Gal.
Up in the sky, Kai changes the vision funneled through the knife and brings all versions of the city to the surface at once. They’re going to build a new city with a place for everyone - Iskari, High Families, and everyone else. A new city with a place for everyone.
The moon rises, and SERIL helps Kai back to the ground. Kai meets Tara and shares the recording of what she heard in the skies.
Legs, skittering closer.
Skazzerai.
“Angels gathered in the silence above the city. Ragged, hurt, and shining, they watched the new world unfurl: broken glass and broken alleys, burned towers, palaces unseen in a hundred fifty years, bomb craters and broken windows filling with people as they explored the fresh and long-hidden damage. The angels hovered above a city they did not understand, a city they recognised from maps and memories but had never known in life. They saw it clear and crisp as new type.
They had not won. They had fought, expecting death, hoping for survival, but they did not know what to do when death failed to oblige them.
A blue spark rose from the city below, and stood before them. A Talbeg girl, barefoot, proud, her clothes torn and dirty, no kind of Queen at all, her eyes were blue from lid to lid, and when she moved blue light trailed her limbs. She was larger than the limits of her skin.
“Do we know you?” asked the angel of House Hala.
The girl seemed to find that funny. She said, when she recovered: “You should. I’m the people who don’t fit. I’m refugees and migrants and street kids who’ve never been anything like legal, caught between the lines of your long slow war. I saved you. So now let’s build a future that leaves no one out.”
The importance of Ruin of Angels
Ruin of Angels is one of the contenders for my favourite Craft Sequence book. I love everything about it: the characters coming together, the weirdness of Agdel Lex and Alikand, the heists, the new insight into Gerhardt and the early days of the Craft, and the massive leaps forward for the series’ overarching plot.
It’s the latter that is probably the most important for the Craft Sequence as a whole. Gladstone has previous described Ruin of Angels as a bridging book between the first part of the sequence and the next part (though he said this several years before the Craft Wars series was announced, so his thoughts on the matter may have changed). I think Ruin of Angels works well as part of the first arc, to be honest, with Dead Country as the bridge, but more on that next time.
Going into space was briefly mentioned by Denovo in Three Parts Dead as a solution to the world dying, but hasn’t really been mentioned since. Gladstone is deft at weaving fantasy and sci-fi throughout his fiction, and this is a perfect example of that. The Domain is a magical reflection of our world and our world’s concerns; the planet dying and people thinking that going to another one is the best solution is reflective of discourse in our world, and thus makes perfect sense to have in the series.
Though, one would hope we don’t have any equivalent of the skazzerai coming for us from deep space.
“What did you hear?”
“Stars. They . . . sing.”
“And.”
“I heard—legs. Skittering closer. Whispers older than time. They speak in the pulses of distant suns. They’re so, so hungry. And they smell us.”
“It’s okay,” Tara said, and took her hand. “We’ll think of something.”
I’ve written at length about the skazzerai (AKA the space spiders) so won’t rehash all that here. If you want more, check out our series here - but be aware that other than the first article, all were written post-Dead Country. Suffice to say, the skazzerai are going to be a Big Bad of the series, and the ending of Ruin of Angels sets them up perfectly.
There’s so much to love about Ruin of Angels - the worldbuilding is top of my list, as well as Kai meeting Tara - but in terms of importance you can’t get more important than setting up the skazzerai.
That’s it for Ruin - and we’re a little late, so Wicked Problems is already out in the world! If you’re reading it, let me know on Twitter or Bluesky. Having so much fun sharing quotes and flailing with people who are now reading.
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