Thorns of War is the second novel in the grimdark series The Smokesmiths, written by João F. Silva; picking after the ending of Seeds of War, Heleronde is enjoying of brief moments of peace. The free city established by Gimlore is an alternative for those that wish to start a new life, and Rednow is enjoying of his retirement plant; that's until the old grudges between gods come back and set it as the center of the perfect storm.

The Old One has tricks under the sleeve, and uses Orberesis as his avatar to unleash chaos over Heleronde, as the first step to recover the control over the world, while trying to eliminate the Essence. However, both Gimlore and Rednow manage to flee from Heleronde, starting really different paths, but with a common target: stopping Orberesis and his power craving.
Gimlore will confront the hardest pain a mother can experience, and her path will take her to the Two Nations, where Orberesis is making contacts to gather an army; however, the god will play his cards faster, putting Gimlore in a situation that she swore not to repeat.
Rednow, in the company of Pinesy, will travel to the land of the Builders, unwillingly becoming part of the Essence's schemes, a position that will unleash new smokesmith powers on him. Gathering an army of smokesmiths, he will prepare for the last stand against Orberesis' plans.

A sequel that puts us into the action from the beginning, but without losing the focus on those characters that lead the plot; we will get more snippets of their past, and see how they are pushed towards the limit by powers they cannot comprehend, which are fighting their own ancient war. Gimlore's arc could be called the more mundane one, but it is well intertwined with our two other characters, which are on the opposite sides of the conflict.

The world is expanded in the same ways the characters have been developed; probably an experience that also is richer if you have previously read Ruins of Smoke (my recommendation is to read the novella as the bridge between Seeds and Thorns). It is especially interesting when the Builders and their mythology are exposed in the eyes of the reader.

Thorns of War is the sequel that Seeds of War deserved; smart and well written, it further develops the characters while giving us an epic story with many emotional moments. I'm really curious to see how Silva continues the series in the next books!