This is the 2nd book in the Riftwar Trilogy, and I started it on Jan 31, but only got a little way into it then.
This series was suggested to me by a cousin in law, who over the ten or so years that I’ve known him has directed me to quite a few excellent books. When I started reading the first book, I realized that I’d actually read a trilogy set on these worlds when I was in high school, and looking back on the other series, some aspects actually make more sense now that I have the background from the first book.