I loved The Prophecy Con – I started off wondering how it would fair against The Palace Job but I really needn’t have worried as this book more than lived up to the promise of the first.  In fact I think I might have enjoyed this story even more to be honest.

The story gets off to a pretty rapid start with Loch and Kail getting into trouble almost immediately.  It seems that their short period of being seriously legit is coming to a crashing end.  The Elven book that the Rogues stole in the first of the series is now once again being chased down and Loch and her crew need to find it’s whereabouts in order to prevent war between the Empire and the Republic.  The stakes for this one are high.  Loch is being set up to take the fall over the looming war and she and her team really need to pull out all the stops.

What I loved most about this book is the characters.  Loch and her crew are all so good to read about.  There are a variety of relationships and the crew all interact differently with each other in a fascinating and more often than not very clever and incredibly humorous fashion.  I genuinely like all of them and I think that’s a great achievement because not only do I enjoy the different view points as and when they occur but I care what happens to all of them and this is what makes this book so thrilling to read.  Well, that and the fact that Weekes has got an incredible imagination that comes up with a multitude of different scenes ranging from airships powered by demons and fights on top of moving trains to card games with enough twists and turns to make the mind boggle.

Did I mention that there’s a dragon?  Silly me!  There’s a dragon!!  How much more happy can you be really.  We also have a woman who was a love priestess then turned into a death priestess and then turned back into a love priestess again.  A shapeshifting unicorn who can play with people’s minds in a very comical fashion.  Loch and Kail who provide the outstanding fight scenes – and a healthy dose of humour.  Tern the alchemist and her partner in crime the former monk named Icy.  And not forgetting Hessler the wizard and Dairy the Champion of Dawn from book No.1.  It really is an awesome team.

The world building is gaining strength.  We take a trip into the land of the Empire and are introduced to Princess Veiled Lightning and her bodyguard Gentle Thunder – these two are great new additions to read about.  Particularly the Princess who is all full of indignant rage at Loch – particularly after Loch not only kicks her ass in the first few chapters but also wounds her pride by stealing her sword!  They’re a persistent pair to say the least and quite frequently pop up when you least expect.  We also have a new ‘tricky’ fae character to deal with who has an incredibly complicated name that is conveniently shortened to Ethel!  He’s a great ‘baddie’ and his fight scenes with Loch are incredible to read about.

I really thoroughly enjoyed this.  It has fantastic pace, great fight scenes, it’s full to the seams with humour, imagination and twists and turns and it has an abundance of great characters.

I certainly recommend this series, it’s just too much fun and a great read.

I received a copy courtesy of the publisher through Netgalley for which my thanks.  The above is my own opinion.