The Children of the Black Moon is the second installment of the Spellbinders and The Gunslingers series, this historical-inspired fantasy series, written by Joseph John Lee. After a nail-biting ending on The Bleeding Stone, this sequel picks the story directly after, introducing new factions to the conflict, and expanding the world of Ferranda, while continuing with the stories of our characters.

Sen discovers the existence of a group of other Eclipseborns, who call themselves The Children of the Black Moon. They are resentful of the tribes, and plan to ally with Aritz and the outsiders in the conquest of Ferranda; Lee introduces a new interesting thought object with this group, as most of those Eclipseborn are just pariahs for their own tribes, people that have been vilified by their own people.
While Sen is also an Eclipseborn, she comes from a totally different background, due to her parents being leaders of her Tribe. She understands the point made by the Children, but cannot feel like a traitor to her own people, feeling out of both groups. Her first battle will definitely set her mind to where she belongs.

After being exiled and defeated in a coup, Tez is looking for new allies that can help her to retake control over Tribes, bringing her to contact the militant Lake Tribe. The invaders' threat can only be defeated if they are united, but internal conflicts can eat the Tribes from the inside.

Aritz is finally looking to show his strength to the tribes, as a way to gain control over resources. Allied with the Children of the Black Moon, he's finally in a situation where the conquest seems a reality.

In this second installment, Lee continues with the depiction of the conflict on Ferranda, going deeper into the internal struggles of the Tribes. While in the first book, the conflict was kinda a two-sided (Tribes vs Conquerors), in this case, we can see how reality is much complex, as we don't have two homogenous sides.
Similarly to the first book, how history is written is an angular piece to the plot, and in this case is explored through the Eclipseborn, those declared pariahs by the tribes just due to their bornt; how it is tackled is one of the reasons I love this series.

The plot is organized in a similar way as it was in book one, alternating the story of the conquests with some flashforwards showing Aritz, mixed with some memories telling more about the natives' traditions and myths (and all perfectly labeled, you won't get lost).

And what can I say, except that I loved The Children of the Black Moon, a sequel that definitely didn't suffer the second book syndrome, equaling in strength to The Bleeding Stone. The third and final book in this series can't come soon enough.