Celeste Ritsuko and Janus Mikani aren't convinced that the culprit behind their last investigation was working alone. The magical ritual interrupted (see Bronze Gods for more details) has left a rift and the city is uneasy due to technology malfunctioning in inexplicable ways. Ritsuko and Mikani are ordered by the Council to travel to the source of the problems and discover why the elemental spirits aren't calming down. Ritsuko and Mikani will face their greatest challenges yet as they leave the city they know and love.

SILVER MIRRORS is the second book in A.A. Aguirre's Apparatus Infernum series. SILVER MIRRORS is best appreciated in the context of the overall series as the storyline picks up right where Bronze Gods ends. SILVER MIRRORS is an adventure story in a steampunk setting. We have a wild ride on the high seas complete with pirates (called craggers) as Ritsuko and Mikani are thrown into a world completely unlike the city life where they are employed. Pirate stories are not typically my favorite but A.A. Aguirre handles the transition from the detective story to pirates quite well. A.A. Aguirre does a marvelous job at utilizing the steampunk aspects in SILVER MIRRORS to give us a vivid peek of the larger world outside the city.

SILVER MIRRORS is a wild roller coaster ride as Ritsuko and Mikani are battered at every angle. I love the elementals and how their stories emerge and hope we see this develop further in the series. SILVER MIRRORS will appeal to readers who like an adventure tale with solid world building, excellent character development, and the added twist of the steampunk genre.

Book Summary

As powerful magic comes creeping back, dangerous days are dawning…

Criminal Investigation Division inspectors Janus Mikani and Celeste Ritsuko were lucky to make it out of their last mission alive. Since then, strange troubles have plagued the city of steam and shadows, apparently as a result of magic released during the CID inspectors’ desperate interruption of an ancient ritual. The fabric of the world has been unsettled, and the Council has assigned Mikani and Ritsuko to investigate.

They soon discover that matters are worse than they imagined. Machines have developed minds of their own, cragger pirates are raiding the seas with relentless aggression, and mad elementals are running amok. As the chaos builds to a crescendo, Mikani and Ritsuko must fight a war on two fronts—and this time, they may not be able to turn the deadly tide…