In which we find, Conn, bereft of his locus magicalicus, trying to talk to Wellmet's magic by blowing things up.

I think I called Conn the Steve Jobs of magicians in my review of book 1. Maybe I should have gone for Thomas Edison, who I believe also blew things up. Edison lost the hearing in one of his ears and Conn blows up his master's house and gives Bennett, Nevery's bodyguard, a skull fracture.

We've probably all known people like Conn; people who are so convinced that they are right that they disregard the advice and rules of their elders and "betters." I've known a couple of Conns in my day and must say that they are much more fun to read about than to deal with in the real world. Conn, like Nevery before him, offends the political and magical bureaucracies so thoroughly that he is exiled and ends up tagging along with an unsuspecting diplomatic envoyage to a neighboring land from which dark magic may be emanating.

Normally I would resent the cliff-hanger ending, but luckily I didn't discover the series until after book 3 had been written, so it's all good...