For her second novel, Jaine Fenn returns to the same universe in which her enjoyable  debut, Principles of Angels, was set. Fenn is not writing a series of books, but like Iain M. Banks or Alastair Reynolds, she is gradually revealing a whole milieu in which she can set diverse stories – a universe about which she has clearly done a lot of thinking. Superficially, there’s nothing to connect Consorts to Principles - it’s set on a backward, inward-looking planet dominated by religion and tradition, and for much of its length feels more like fantasy than SF, as the trappings of space opera are replaced with character-driven storytelling in a setting that feels almost medieval.

We are introduced to Kerin, a widow, and her son Damaru, who is ‘skytouched’ – a sort of idiot savant whose powers, gradually revealed, give the first hint that we are not just dealing with an ordinary pre-industrial society, as Damaru can rearrange matter with the power of his mind. When they find a stranger, naked and unconscious in a swamp near the village, Kerin takes him in and nurses him back to health, but he can’t remember anything about how he came to be there. He takes the nickname of Sais, and joins the others in assuming he must be a noble from far away.

As Sais discovers more about the remote society in which he has ended up, so does the reader: Sais has arrived at the time of the Drove, when the villagers drive cattle to the lowlands to bargain for trade goods – and to take any skytouched villagers to undergo trial at the City. Those who pass the test will apparently become Consorts of the Skymothers, the Gods of this world – so Kerin, Sais and Damaru set off on the Drove, with Kerin knowing her son will either pass the test, and disappear for ever, or fail the test – and die. Sais’s growing unease matches ours as the party nears the city – he intuitively knows he is not from this world, and with the help of the priest Einon gradually recovers his memory. Slowly, he evolves an understanding of what has happened on this world, and what he must do to stop it. The problem involved the age-old enemies of humanity, first encountered in Principles of Angels, the Sidhe – and the solution requires Kerin to experience some serious culture shock as we finally get to experience some spaceships and other far-future pyrotechnics.

Consorts of Heaven is an enjoyable novel with a stronger central premise than its predecessor, and the pace of revelation is really well judged by Fenn. From the start, you know there’s a mystery at the heart of the book, but it takes you a while to put the pieces together (more astute readers may suss out some of the puzzles in advance  of Sais, which keeps the brain ticking over nicely). Sais and Kerin are well-drawn characters who achieve a close relationship via some serious difficulties along the way, and the ending is satisfying, with the option to return to key characters in future storylines tantalisingly available. My only criticism is that Damaru, with his autism-like problems, is often left dialogue-less for long stretches, desipite being referred to frequently, making him feel more like a burden than a person at times. It’s  a minor fault in an otherwise excellent book, and I look forward very much to journeying once again in to Jaine Fenn’s universe.

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