Under One Banner – Graydon Saunders

Graydon’s ‘Commonweal’ books are superb. This is the first I’ve rated at less than five stars, and that because this book doesn’t stand on its own. ‘The March North’ and ‘A Succession of Bad Days’ are both good entry points. ‘Safely You Deliver’ is not, but it would enchant a reader new to the series. ‘Under One Banner’ simply won’t work on its own; it is too introspective.

That said, if you read and enjoyed the earlier books, you won’t want to miss this one.

The viewpoint character is Eugenia - a student of sorcery whose studies come to a sudden stop when her sorcery is, literally, burned out. As a student of sorcery, she has an inescapable commitment to appear for evaluation in a number of months - and since she no longer qualifies, her life has a time limit. She spends the time she has left helping in what the Shot Shop has become. In the background, the Commonweal is under attack. The Commonweal has fought off Reems - but not what Reems is fleeing from. More recently it has fought off invaders from overseas - but not what they are fleeing from.

For the most part, the book isn’t about Eugenia. Mostly, the book is a look under the hood of the Commonweal. There are a lot of monologues, some of them disguised as dialogues. Good ones.