Review by Ian Keogh

In a delightful first volume Carlos Sánchez supplied two picked upon children at an orphanage finding their way into another world, known as Puddin’, where they found their strengths. The deaf Chiri in particular excels at natural magic, the principles of which are greatly advanced by the sign language she uses every day. After seeing off a significant threat in The Tale of a Thousand Faces, Chiri and Dai decided to stay in the new world and learn more about magic.

The Shadow King has been trapped in a glass bottle, which is where he remains while the witch Babcia attempts to have him reveal his secrets. One is that he’s but the first of three heralds of the true threat. It’s a narrative way of recycling, keeping the threat close enough to the first book while allowing for some differences. The Obsidian Maze, for instance, which has already been attempted by warriors Lis and Sophie, ending in complete failure.

Sánchez occupies much of this book with another attempt, this time with Chiri and Dai, and ensures the threats found are challenging and dangerous. The location enables some great background art, full of classical sculpture designs, and as in the previous book, there are several eye-catching spreads featuring multiple manifestations of the characters as they wander through a well formulated landscape.

This isn’t quite the thrill of the opening volume. Repetition is the primary reason, as the art and cast retain their charm. Was there a need, for instance, to show each character’s nightmare when all are trapped dreaming? Or to return skeleton warriors? However, once past that the final third is very strong, with Sánchez defying expectations and shifting the ground considerably in setting up a sequel.

While The Tale of the Obsidian Maze reads just fine on its own, readers who have read the previous book will pick up a little more, and it’s a shame that new readers aren’t provided with the rune translation code this time.