ON VICIOUS WORLDS Plot Recap

Nine months after the concluding events of These Burning Stars, much has changed. The Jeveni colony of Farren Eyce on the planet Capamame is not the paradise that Effegen ten Crost and the Wheel intended. Many colonists are bitter about their new life far from the Treble, and worse, a mysterious figure has been terrorizing Farren Eyce. Three of Masar Hawks’s kin collectors are dead, and he and Jun Ironway are nowhere near uncovering the murderer.

Meanwhile, Chono and Six have returned to the Treble intent on holding the Kindom to account for its abuse of the Jeveni. Their return forces the Kindom to expel First Cleric Aver Paiye and First Cloak Seti Moonback for their crimes, but the Secretarial Court of the Clever Hand remains intact, installing a form of martial law in the Treble. Six, acting as Esek Nightfoot, and Chono, who has become a folk hero for her defiance of the Kindom, are now engaged in a sparring match with the Secretaries. They must protect the Jeveni still living the Treble, but without capitulating to the Kindom. In this atmosphere, a figure from Six’s past appears, urging Chono to declare war on the Kindom once and for all. 

The revolutionary Yantikye the Honor has known Six since they were a teenager. He aided Six in their mission against Esek, in part by introducing them to Secretary Ilius Redquill. Redquill helped Six search for the names of the Wheel, but this mission ended badly when several Jeveni collectors died protecting Effegen's identity. Though Six responded by warning Ilius to have nothing to do with hunting the Jeveni ever again, the damage was done.

In the present, Ilius is now a member of the Secretarial Court, and he urges Chono to work with the Kindom, appealing both to her sense of justice and peace, as well as to their one-time romance. But Chono does not trust Ilius or the Kindom, and determines to ally with Yantikye. His plan? That Chono secretly meet with Aver Paiye (living under house arrest) and persuade him to use his influence alongside hers to turn the people against the Secretaries. Six insists that Chono cannot risk herself in this way, but Chono fears there is not much time left to stop the Secretaries from visiting more destruction on the Treble, and even, possibly, on Capamame itself.

For trouble has only ratcheted in Farren Eyce. The colony saboteur, a casting genius who Jun calls the avatar, may be working for the Kindom itself. As Jun contends with the avatar’s attacks, she also contends with trouble in her own family. While she has found great joy in reuniting with her cousin Bene, her younger cousin Luja is traumatized by her years on the run, and her final cousin Tej has become a malcontent with obvious secrets. When the avatar tries to unleash a deadly tech virus on the colony, Tej is implicated in the attack. He disappears, and the River of the Wheel, Fonu sen Fhaan, arrests the other Ironways on suspicion of being the avatar.

Luckily, Liis Konye returns from an expedition abroad. She and Masar track down a collector named Dom ben Dane, learning that the avatar blackmailed him into killing the other collectors. Dom confirms that Tej is in league with the avatar, but that Jun and her other cousins are not involved. Jun has barely been freed when the avatar attacks her via cast, but she repels the attack and comes closer than ever to uncovering the avatar’s identity.

As Jun takes comfort in Liis’s return, Bene, Masar and Effegen take similar comfort from each other. But the reprieve is brief. Masar wakes to find Bene sneaking away, and follows him up to the surface of Capamame, where Tej is waiting for him. Jun, receiving a cast signal that there is trouble on the surface, and that her cousins are missing, races to save them. An armed and agitated Tej takes them at gun point to a shuttle, where Masar is a prisoner, Fonu sen Fhaan has been brutally assaulted, and Bene seems to be involved. Luja emerges from the cockpit, bloodied and erratic, revealing herself as the avatar and calling herself Ujan. She has tortured Fonu into giving her the Capamame gate key, and sent it to the Treble. Whoever has it will be able to jump to Capamame. Ujan demands to be allowed to leave the Capamame system, but Effegen, Jun, Liis, Masar and ultimately Bene overpower her and Tej.

The Wheel convenes to consider their options. They have discovered that Ilius Redquill became Ujan’s patron years ago, and so it seems likely that she has sent the gate key to him, setting Farren Eyce up for a Kindom invasion. The Jeveni’s options are limited. They can destroy the gate, cutting themselves off from the Treble forever, or they can follow Liis’s advice: go to the Treble, find Ilius, and kill him before he can use the key. Masar takes on the mission, determined to save his colony.

In the Treble, matters have also become desperate. Though Chono succeeds in secretly meeting with Aver Paiye and convincing him to help her challenge the Secretaries, Ilius uncovers them. He kills Paiye and arrests Chono for treason. Six, meanwhile, escapes arrest by the skin of their teeth—and by the aid of a mysterious figure. But when brought before the Secretarial Court, Chono discovers that Six has been captured after all, and they are both sentenced to death.

When the guardsaan refuse to carry out the execution, it is revealed that they are not guardsaan after all. They are cloaksaan under the command of Seti Moonback. To save Chono, Six made a deal to help Moonback get to the Secretaries. But Moonback wants more than to take over the Kindom—he sets his cloaks to systematically slaughtering the Secretaries. Chono and Six flee, hunted through the Secretarial headquarters. They are nearly killed, saved at the last moment by Masar and his collectors, who are hunting for Ilius.

Now the final act is in play. Masar, Six and Chono ally to track Ilius down. Hoping to protect Chono, Six creates a diversion and leads Moonback away, but they are ultimately captured. Chono and Masar, meanwhile, discover Ilius—but he professes no knowledge of Ujan’s schemes. Before they can conclude what this means for the recovery of the gate key, Ilius kills himself. Chono and Masar escape to the roof, where Yantikye is waiting for them with a shuttle. Terror stricken at the thought that Six may be dead, Chono accuses Yantikye of betraying her and Paiye to the Secretaries. He does not deny it.

But their options are limited. As they race toward safety, Seti Moonback sends out a cast to the entire Treble, declaring his seizure of the Kindom and sharing a secret message with Chono: he has Six. And more than that, he was Ujan’s handler all along. It is he who has what the Jeveni need most of all: the Capamame gate key.