Son of Khyber (Thorn of Breland #2, Eberron) by Keith Baker review

    SON OF KHYBER is the second novel in the Thorn of Breland series, which follows the adventures of the titular Thorn as she does black ops for her fantasy nation. They are spy novels that just so happen to take place in a fantasy world of airships and industrialized magic. I tend to describe them as steampunk but they're like a magical Great Depression with swords and wands instead of machine guns. I really enjoyed this books return to Sharn and the handling of some heavy topics like systematized oppression.

    The premise for Son of Khyber is that Thorn has been sent to infiltrate House Tarkanan, an organization that represents the disenfranchised aberrant dragonmark bearers. In Eberron, you either belong to the megacorporation-like Twelve or are a monstrous outcast hunted by them. They've recently moved from being a purely criminal organization to violent political activism (read: terrorism) and the Twelve want Thorn to kill their new leader. The Son of Khyber is also a name that roughly translates as "The Son of Hell" in-universe so he's probably not a nice guy or so Thorn thinks.

    Essentially, this book is kind of an Eberron version of Homeland or Lioness. Thorn has gone deep undercover and starts sympathizing with the Tarkanans a lot more than she expected to do so. This is especially the case due to the fact Thorn is rather empathically devoted to Breland above all things (subtly critiquing nationalism as we, the audience, know that her belief it should won the Last War to rule everyone else is an insane viewpoint). 

    Part of Thorn's discomfort is due to the fact she has some dangerous new powers of her own but it's also because Thorn hates the Twelve buying her government's assistance. Yes, they're strong allies to Breland but it's very much the Military Industrial Complex giving orders to the CIA (as happened in RL, except it was the fruit and oil companies). Thorn thinks of herself as one of the little people so the Son of Khyber's rhetoric resonates with her. 

    Ironically, it's also situational as I winced in RL when Thorn planned to blow up an illegal Creation Forge (that make the living golems of the setting) and all I could think was how it was a crime against all warforged that just want to continue their race. 

    Keith Baker doesn't make the mistake some other D&D fiction might have by making House Tarkanan just a bunch of unfairly maligned do gooders, just as he doesn't depict them as one dimensional terrorists either. Being oppressed doesn't automatically make the Tarkanan good people and there really are reasons people are wary of them. Aberrant dragonmarks are dangerous to outsiders and unbalances the mind when wielded. It just also makes it clear that the persecution of aberrant dragonmark wielders drives them to become the very danger the Twelve claim they are. As said in my Supervillainy Saga books, "It turned a potential fight [with superhumans] into a certain one."

    In conclusion, I really liked this book and my only complaint about it is that the Son of Khyber's identity spoils the ending of The Dreaming Dark and potentially nullifies any potential follow up. It's still a fantastic story and one that really captures what makes Eberron different from other DND settings. Some of the impact will be lost if you haven't read The Dreaming Dark but I still recommend it as a continuation of Thorn of Breland series.

9/10 

Available here