4.5 stars, rounded up to 5.

“Heroes or Thieves” is the second book in the “Steps of Power” series, and it starts off from the CRAZY cliffhanger that book 1 ended with. King Hairem has been murdered and those who know about it are on the run, only not very successfully. Will they succeed in overthrowing the scheming Ilsevel, or are they doomed to fall to her wiles?

Although there is a lot of intrigue and there is a fair amount of world-building, the action moves swiftly; this is definitely a high-action book. We also have the introduction of Jerah, a new character who quickly became my favorite. I won’t say anything more about him in order to avoid spoilers, but suffice to say that he provides some interesting depth and complexity (always welcome) to the story. We also spend more time with the mute serving girl Alvena, my favorite character from the first book. In fact, I rather wished we had spent more time with Alvena, and that there had been more female characters in general. However, anyone looking for some action-packed epic fantasy will find a lot to enjoy here.

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.