Burning City

As the city burns, intrique rules

At the end of book one of Jake Kerr's rollicking Thieves Guild series, Ralan Miller was looking over a calm city that had withstood a traitorous power struggle by his brother Larsen, the Guildmaster of the Merchant Guild. In this fast-paced second book in the series, Larsen pushes subtlety aside and provokes all-out civil war as he assaults the members of the Harvest Guild.

With the city in flames, Ralan must somehow assist the Harvest Guild, rally the defense of their burning neighborhoods, calm the nerves of the Outlanders, and figure out how to stop his brother. All while maintaining the secrecy of the mysterious Thieves Guild.

As if that weren't enough, a double agent he can't quite trust reveals that other factions are planning on conquering the city. Meanwhile, Maela, the Blade of the Thieves Guild, makes an astonishing discovery that upends what everyone knows of the city’s history.

Featuring a rich tapestry of intrigue, politics, secrets, colorful characters, and a complex world where seemingly no one can be trusted, this second book of the Thieves Guild series further reveals the compelling secret history of the city-state of Ness and its cutthroat guilds.

About the series

I've had the idea for a truly epic series told via smaller stories since I read two things at nearly the same time: The indie graphic novel Cerebus and the Book of the New Sun series by Gene Wolfe. Both take a look at individuals and smaller scale events and slowly build them into epic stories that sweep the reader up.So this series starts with a bit of juvenile delinquency and a the punishment that comes from it. Like the butterfly effect, the consequences of that event grow and spread, encompassing characters and settings that seem minor in the beginning but have major impact later. 
In short, The Guildmaster Thief is a complex undertaking combining many small events that are all part of an epic background of a city-state that is facing decay, revolution, and rebirth. 
I hope you enjoy the ride.