Niccas (The Cronnex #2)

In the second volume of The Cronnex we follow the fate of Niccas, the second of the story's two teenage protagonists. Like Jessan, he, too, is finds himself plunged into a series of frightening episodes where quick wits and mastering his mysterious powers are his only hope of survival. But, unlike Jessan, he must fight for his life in a city already under the power of his enemy.

Niccas finds refuge by assuming the identify of a lowly apprentice in the house of a powerful alchemist—until events conspire to send him into situations of ever-escalating violence. Fortunately, he finds lovers (not all of them human) who assist and comfort him (although one of them is occasionally inclined to do just the opposite) as he struggles to assume his rightful powers. Jessan ends with the first of our protagonists coming into his full powers; in Niccas, the second of the two has to struggle just to survive, and his plight will keep you on the edge of your seat right to the story's last explosive pages.