Continuing his quest to fulfill the charge laid on him by the dying Tarin Beckwith, Etjole Ehomba now travels through more dangerous lands still: civilization. The skills that serve him so well in the wild struggle to adapt to the peculiarities of each little kingdom through which he travels. But travel he must, ever northward, ever growing closer to the ultimate confrontation with Hymneth the Possessed.The title is at once serious and a bit of a pun; the Thinking Kingdoms are, indeed, titled that, but they are also Etjole's first real excursion deep into the lands of men. The array of civilizations is diverse and impressive, with a lot of variety in society and particular social malfunctions. The opening of the book also provides the first close look at Hymneth and the kingdom to which Etjole is ultimately bound.Once again there are a few humorous side stories slipped into the main narrative, though none with such a jarring shift to first person as happened in the first book. It is hard to tell if Etjole has any idea of what disaster his innocent acts of kindness tend to wreck on evil minds, but as Simna points out, "coincidence" follows Etjole awfully closely.As a sequel to a strong first novel, this holds up very well. There are a few places in the beginning where Etjole's habit of pulling a magical solution out of his baggage is rather overdone, but the surprises that he keeps dishing out are always entertaining. And there was one bit at the end about the color of the beach pebbles that bothered me, because I'm pretty sure the first book said they were grey. Overall, though, there's no lag in the story or the characters. I rate this book Recommended.
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