Dabos’s follow-up to A Winter’s Promise finds protagonist Ophelia—a mirror-hopper who can divine objects’ histories via touch—still on an interplanetary shard called the Pole, awaiting her arranged marriage to Thorn, after which the couple will inherit each other’s abilities. Meanwhile, guests of the Pole’s impenetrable embassy, Clairdelune, start vanishing. Escalating stakes ratchet tension while a somewhat leisurely pace allows readers to savor Dabos’s spectacular settings, exquisitely rendered characters, and the ever-evolving relationships that bind them. Ages 14–up.
