The Spirit Rebellion by Rachel Aaron – review

Welcome back to the Eli Monpress show!  Did you miss the rogue?  I know I did!  Aaron provides us with another “easy job” gone awry as Eli, Nico, and Josef attempt to retrieve a magical blade as payment for having a specialist fix Nico’s concealment cloak.  Instead of taking the easier course of action that would have taken more time to accomplish, Eli practically hand delivers himself to the Duke of Gaol and his “thief-proof” fortress.

Miranda, the Spiritualist who was tasked with bringing Eli back to the Spirit Court for punishment and inadvertently became the vessel for the Great Spirit of Mellinor, is facing the consequences of her actions.  Though to be fair she’s less on trial because of what she did and more because of who her mentor is.

A lot of what I enjoyed about the first book–Eli’s irreverent attitude, Nico, the bantering and antics–were still present in this novel.  Indeed this book followed a similar course to The Spirit Thief in that for as many plots as Eli hatched, he needed to think of at least twice as many ways to counteract the problems he encountered.

There is, however, a certain urgency to the novel.  Even though the third book, The Spirit Eater, is not the final book, the events are the culmination of something that’s been building from the first book.  Namely the demonseed inside of Nico.  We get a taste of what’s in store for Nico early on as she meets another woman who houses her own demonseed.  Resigned to her fate, she is thankful just for each day she can cling to her mind.  She doesn’t fill Nico, or us, with much hope.  Later when we see what happens when Nico let’s the darkness in her out (even a smidge), it’s horrifying.

We learn more about Eli’s past, especially how he came to become a thief and why its important to him to earn that million gold standards. We also see more of Benehime and the League of Storms, though after what almost happened, I can’t imagine the League is going to have a good time with Benehime.  I have a hunch as to who Eli’s birth father is, based upon the prologue and a note he sent to the Spirit Court.

I found the fact that we saw the drawbacks to not only Eli’s power but also Miranda’s Spiritualist rules interesting.  They were both at a disadvantage through various parts of the book, but like anyone worth having books about, they are resourceful and have allies they can count on.  Aaron is more careful to point out that neither Eli’s haphazard hope for the best attitude nor Miranda’s by the book principles can solely win the day.  As in The Spirit Thief, it’s when they worked together they found a solution to the trouble.