For hunters stalk the refugees from the Duskhold. Powerful Sharded, unnatural sorcerers, and creatures that they cannot yet comprehend. Deryn and Heth must flee to the ancient city of Karath, where they hope answers await about who was behind the attempt to murder Rhenna Shen, and why one of the mysterious Elowyn directed them to find the House of Last Light.

The north lurches towards war, Shadow and Storm closing around the flickering Flame, while the Blood scheme in the black ziggurats of the Sanguine City, and far away something stirs in the frozen wastes where the disciples of Ice cling to an ancient faith . . .

CLASSIFICATION: The Sharded Few saga  is a unique mix of The Way of Kings and Blood Song as it provides the epic world & magic system of Brandon Sanderson’s magnum opus while also providing the character rich story found in Anthony Ryan’s debut.
 

FORMAT/INFO: The Sanguine Sands is 528 pages long divided over forty-five POV titled chapters with a prologue and an epilogue. Narration is in the third person via Deryn, Heth Su Canaav, Alia, Kaliss & a singular POV chapter (titled the Cleric). This is the second volume of the Sharded Few series.
 
April 7th, 2025 marked the e-book publication of The Sanguine Sands  and it was self-published by the author. Cover art is by YAM (Mansik Yang) and design-typography by Shawn T. King.
 

OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: I’ve been besotted with this world and story since Alec Hutson first granted me an ARC of The Umbral Storm. The first book was an incredible start and it was my favourite book of 2022 alongside being FBC’s SPFBO Finalist selection. The author had gone through very trying personal situations and that’s the major reason for the 3 year wait between TUS and its sequel. But here we are and when The Sanguine Sands landed in my inbox, I was overjoyed as I couldn’t wait to see how the author upped the magnificent story that was The Umbral Storm.

The Sanguine Sands opens up with a prologue wherein we get to see a further corner of the world and within it a very creepy monastery with a wild interior design. I believe the timing of the prologue corresponds to the latter half of TUS. The story opens with our POV characters Alia, Deryn, Heth and lady Rhenna as they are the only survivors of the assassination attempt. However Alia and Heth are not longer just “hollow”. They have now newer aspects to themselves and have been given a path towards the free city of Karath. Wherein they must find the House of Last Light and learn more about the mysteries of the world. However they also have to lay low while making the journey as Rhenna wishes to know who truly was behind the assassination attempt. All of this and more machinations abide in this thrilling sequel which ups the ante in every department.

Let me state the obvious, I was a huge fan of the first book and hence one might wonder how objective my review can be. Let me assure you, I was very apprehensive about this sequel as anticipation can often kneecap one’s favourites more than anything else. Alec had also written a different fantasy title in between (The Pale Blade) this series and that meant he was returning almost 3 years to this sequel. I was so wrong about having to worry as I can safely shout that this book is triply magnificent.

Once again the worldbuilding shines as we get more knowledge about the various Sharded holds but also about various geographical aspects of the world and get a nautical journey as well. The author also illuminates other races that are present in the world and here I must highlight the author’s love for turtles within his books (you’ll know when you see it). 

This book outdoes its predecessor in one more aspect, TUS’s start was said to be a bit on the slower side by some but here there’s no slowing down at all, from the moment the foursome start their journey towards Karath to the exciting climax, the plot pace is ever engaging. Another plus point in the characterization and herein the trio of Alia, Deryn & Heth get more to do. Alia particularly also gets more chapters than in the first volume. Plus one of my favourite secondary characters from the first book Kaliss gets a POV turn and her chapters are even more action-packed than the rest of the book. 

The character work has to be lauded as we get to see all three of our POV characters break out of their mould and learn to adapt to new (& frankly scary situations). I enjoyed how the author is allowing these young characters to age into the adults they will becoming. Alec Hutson is a person who knows how to keep the readers enticed with his characterization and this series is another fine example of it. 

This book similar to the first one is absolutely filled to the brim with worldbuilding and within this sequel we get to know more of the world’s history, theological past and magic system workings. I can’t reveal more because they are all huge spoilers but safe to say, most if not all of my curiosities (as spoken with Alec in our interview) were answered. I LOVED this aspect as it made the worlbuilding junkie go gaga. Lastly the ending was just perfect, it ends the story so precisely and with such a tantalizing premise that I felt the climax was better than its predecessor.

For me, there were only two minor complaints about this book. First that it ends on such a tantalizing note and now we have to wait until the third book releases to find out what happens next. Secondly I think the author kept the story with a very tight focus on the main POV characters. I thought that there was a possibility that if we could have seen more of the events in the north and it would added to the epicness of the story. However that would also detract from the plot’s tightness and maybe I would be complaining otherwise.