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Perplexity
Assemble the clues, dismantle the danger.
Yosarai Patican never wanted to finish her schooling in the Indeli capital, but after several months, she is finally finding her footing . . . until her world is shattered by the unthinkable. Facing loss after loss, she struggles to adjust to a new position and new responsibilities, including the repayment of a massive debt. A debt more easily managed if she can qualify for the elite politico sphere on the upcoming placement exam. Some, however, would do anything to prevent Yosarai from earning one of the coveted positions.
Meanwhile, in the northern realm of Egdon, Crown Prince Xander faces an increasingly hostile Parliament. Not only are they questioning the necessity of the monarchy, but they are also demanding an accounting of some mysterious expenditures by the former king. Unless Xander can unearth a reasonable explanation, his coronation may be more than postponed. It may be cancelled—permanently.
As old rivalries escalate and hidden threats emerge, both Xander and Yosi must choose their paths wisely, before evil eliminates everyone in its way.
Yosarai Patican never wanted to finish her schooling in the Indeli capital, but after several months, she is finally finding her footing . . . until her world is shattered by the unthinkable. Facing loss after loss, she struggles to adjust to a new position and new responsibilities, including the repayment of a massive debt. A debt more easily managed if she can qualify for the elite politico sphere on the upcoming placement exam. Some, however, would do anything to prevent Yosarai from earning one of the coveted positions.
Meanwhile, in the northern realm of Egdon, Crown Prince Xander faces an increasingly hostile Parliament. Not only are they questioning the necessity of the monarchy, but they are also demanding an accounting of some mysterious expenditures by the former king. Unless Xander can unearth a reasonable explanation, his coronation may be more than postponed. It may be cancelled—permanently.
As old rivalries escalate and hidden threats emerge, both Xander and Yosi must choose their paths wisely, before evil eliminates everyone in its way.
358 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 7, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
April 13, 2026
Chawna Schroeder returns to continue Yosarai's story, and I couldn't be more impressed. This time around, she takes her characters through new levels of hardship and questioning, yet brings them back to places of hope and trust organically, as they learn to cling to Sustainer and each other. By the time I reached the end, I was already salivating for another book and another trip to the Seven Realms.
I rarely start a review discussing spiritual threads, but here I think I have to. The way Chawna handles Yosi, Xander, and other characters' relationships with Sustainer is touching, incredibly relatable, and often raw. These books are based on A Little Princess, and in the original, Sara Crewe is kind of "perfect," other than one well-deserved breakdown. But here, Yosi especially actually sits with her questions. She makes mistakes and sins against others based on how lost, alone, and shattered she feels. So when she grows in her faith, it feels natural and well-paced. It feels earned, but unlike with Sara Crewe, not because Yosi was "good enough" or "learned a lesson." Instead, she walks the journey of someone whose faith was untested but already deep. She learns because she truly cares about her people and her God. She makes the hard choices, not without thinking they might benefit her, but eventually concluding the more selfless reasons are better.
Spiritual threads and themes also pop up for other characters, in unique places. Xander's struggles with the kingship, for instance, don't have as many obvious places to weave a spiritual thread as Yosi's journey does. But he does get the chance to step up and make his relationship with Sustainer his own, to make decisions that contradict what others might expect but allow him to be the man he was created to be. Lavidah has a painful spiritual thread wrapped in her moral and emotional choices that left me wondering, "When's the next book? I want to know what happens to her." And Massard, though a fairly minor character, has a couple moments with Sustainer that left me pleasantly surprised.
As great as the spiritual threads are though, they couldn't exist without a stellar plot and characters. Chawna delivered beautifully on both of these. I loved the major characters of course, and my pages turned at a feverish pace as I tracked where they were going. But in Perplexity, I found myself falling in love with all the secondary and tertiary characters as well. Viv and Alani, Massard, little Ellie (oh, especially Ellie), Carmichael, even Alastair--everyone absolutely pops off the page.
The plot "pops" too, so much I can't even pick the best scenes as I usually do with a book like this. What I ended up loving most about it is that it's not a beat for beat retread of A Little Princess. Instead, Chawna used that story structure to "ad lib," to put in her own threads and twists that made sense for her world. And as I said in my review of Illuminary, what a world this still is. Indel and Egdon are still as lush and three-dimensional as any setting I could ask for. Plus, I loved how Chawna added details about Realms like Mounce and Waibean, without letting nationality become associated characters' whole personalities. I want to see more of the Realms and their people in the next book for sure.
You can probably tell this is a "gushing" review. Indeed, the only thing I would change is, I wish Chawna hadn't stopped where she did because now I have to wait months, if not a whole year, for book three! But *sigh.* Wait I will, with great anticipation. In the meantime, if you haven't caught up on this series yet, I urge you to do so. You will be swept away.
I rarely start a review discussing spiritual threads, but here I think I have to. The way Chawna handles Yosi, Xander, and other characters' relationships with Sustainer is touching, incredibly relatable, and often raw. These books are based on A Little Princess, and in the original, Sara Crewe is kind of "perfect," other than one well-deserved breakdown. But here, Yosi especially actually sits with her questions. She makes mistakes and sins against others based on how lost, alone, and shattered she feels. So when she grows in her faith, it feels natural and well-paced. It feels earned, but unlike with Sara Crewe, not because Yosi was "good enough" or "learned a lesson." Instead, she walks the journey of someone whose faith was untested but already deep. She learns because she truly cares about her people and her God. She makes the hard choices, not without thinking they might benefit her, but eventually concluding the more selfless reasons are better.
Spiritual threads and themes also pop up for other characters, in unique places. Xander's struggles with the kingship, for instance, don't have as many obvious places to weave a spiritual thread as Yosi's journey does. But he does get the chance to step up and make his relationship with Sustainer his own, to make decisions that contradict what others might expect but allow him to be the man he was created to be. Lavidah has a painful spiritual thread wrapped in her moral and emotional choices that left me wondering, "When's the next book? I want to know what happens to her." And Massard, though a fairly minor character, has a couple moments with Sustainer that left me pleasantly surprised.
As great as the spiritual threads are though, they couldn't exist without a stellar plot and characters. Chawna delivered beautifully on both of these. I loved the major characters of course, and my pages turned at a feverish pace as I tracked where they were going. But in Perplexity, I found myself falling in love with all the secondary and tertiary characters as well. Viv and Alani, Massard, little Ellie (oh, especially Ellie), Carmichael, even Alastair--everyone absolutely pops off the page.
The plot "pops" too, so much I can't even pick the best scenes as I usually do with a book like this. What I ended up loving most about it is that it's not a beat for beat retread of A Little Princess. Instead, Chawna used that story structure to "ad lib," to put in her own threads and twists that made sense for her world. And as I said in my review of Illuminary, what a world this still is. Indel and Egdon are still as lush and three-dimensional as any setting I could ask for. Plus, I loved how Chawna added details about Realms like Mounce and Waibean, without letting nationality become associated characters' whole personalities. I want to see more of the Realms and their people in the next book for sure.
You can probably tell this is a "gushing" review. Indeed, the only thing I would change is, I wish Chawna hadn't stopped where she did because now I have to wait months, if not a whole year, for book three! But *sigh.* Wait I will, with great anticipation. In the meantime, if you haven't caught up on this series yet, I urge you to do so. You will be swept away.
May 8, 2026
PERPLEXITY is the second book in this Christian steampunk series, and takes readers on a journey to other lands in this fantasy world. Equal parts story and character driven, the plot thickens as the heroine and prince continue to be challenged and face danger as they try to figure out who their adversary is. Fans of the genre and series will enjoy finding out what happens next leading up to the final book.
I enjoyed the first book in this series and was curious how the story would continue. I liked both Xander and Yosi. They're very likable and I loved the friendships and family dynamics. There was some humor and a bit of romance as well amidst the danger and a bit of action. I also liked travelling to a couple of other lands and learning more about this fantasy world. I really enjoyed the second half of the story. I felt like things finally started to move. Xander is starting to puzzle some things together. At the same time, Yosi faces some really hard things while she also finds some pieces of the puzzle from her end. They finally figure some things out, but then the book just stops.
I felt like this book fell prey to the second book syndrome or middle book slump. There were things that happened, but nothing that necessarily progressed the story until towards the end. The first half didn't hold my attention and felt a bit like filler. There were also some things that happened that didn't feel realistic to me, such as a prince's personal guard easily being overcome by two men. There were several other things that also didn't work for me. I didn't love the religious passages that disrupted the story and weren't explained in this book (maybe they were in the first, but I can't remember), nor did the heroine have access to her mom's book so I'm not sure where the passages were coming from. A lot of it wasn't necessary to the story, feeling like just a transition from book one to the conclusion in book three. I'm not sure there really is enough left of the story to make a whole other book for book three. I think this series could have been a duology and would be better as such.
In the end, was it what I wished for? Overall, the story progressed, although very slowly. A lot of things didn't work for me or engage me until the second half. I'm hoping book three will have a lot more weight to it and finish this series up nicely.
Content: Clean
Source: I received a complimentary copy through Celebrate Lit, which did not require a positive review. All opinions are my own.
I enjoyed the first book in this series and was curious how the story would continue. I liked both Xander and Yosi. They're very likable and I loved the friendships and family dynamics. There was some humor and a bit of romance as well amidst the danger and a bit of action. I also liked travelling to a couple of other lands and learning more about this fantasy world. I really enjoyed the second half of the story. I felt like things finally started to move. Xander is starting to puzzle some things together. At the same time, Yosi faces some really hard things while she also finds some pieces of the puzzle from her end. They finally figure some things out, but then the book just stops.
I felt like this book fell prey to the second book syndrome or middle book slump. There were things that happened, but nothing that necessarily progressed the story until towards the end. The first half didn't hold my attention and felt a bit like filler. There were also some things that happened that didn't feel realistic to me, such as a prince's personal guard easily being overcome by two men. There were several other things that also didn't work for me. I didn't love the religious passages that disrupted the story and weren't explained in this book (maybe they were in the first, but I can't remember), nor did the heroine have access to her mom's book so I'm not sure where the passages were coming from. A lot of it wasn't necessary to the story, feeling like just a transition from book one to the conclusion in book three. I'm not sure there really is enough left of the story to make a whole other book for book three. I think this series could have been a duology and would be better as such.
In the end, was it what I wished for? Overall, the story progressed, although very slowly. A lot of things didn't work for me or engage me until the second half. I'm hoping book three will have a lot more weight to it and finish this series up nicely.
Content: Clean
Source: I received a complimentary copy through Celebrate Lit, which did not require a positive review. All opinions are my own.
April 8, 2026
I have never cried so much while reading a book, nor come so close to throwing said book across the room upon finishing it. The cliffhanger after Illuminary was bad, but this one?!? I have no words!
Gah. My mind is churning in so many directions, it’s hard to out any coherent thoughts together. Yosi and Xander were good in Illuminary, but here, they blossomed in a whole new way. The way they are both fundamentally unchanged by the differences in their circumstances, and yet experience things that grow and mature them in good but hard ways, revealing who they are more deeply is a testament to the Schroeder’s skill and abilities.
Schroeder did an incredible job of crafting a high-stakes plot that wasn’t a thrill ride, but rather a realistically paced unfolding of life that allowed Yosi and Xander to be known and loved and grown with. And the themes of hardship and suffering and injustice and where God is in the midst of it were so well written, with such challenging but true conclusions and no pat answers- because in real life, such things don’t exist.
I cannot wait for book three, to see how the rest of the story unfolds, but you can also bet that I’ll be revisiting both Illuminary and Perplexity as I wait. Both because the characters and story are so good I want to spend more time with them, and because the truths within it are so rich one cannot fully absorb everything on just one reading.
I received an ARC. All opinions are my own.
SPOILERS:
As someone who deeply values family, I despised Lavidah from the first time she set foot on the page. But after finishing Perplexity, I believe I may admire her. Her actions, in the end, set her apart from the villain, and a good, honest redemption arc like I think we’re going to get in book three is about the only thing that can override such poor behavior throughout two books.
Gah. My mind is churning in so many directions, it’s hard to out any coherent thoughts together. Yosi and Xander were good in Illuminary, but here, they blossomed in a whole new way. The way they are both fundamentally unchanged by the differences in their circumstances, and yet experience things that grow and mature them in good but hard ways, revealing who they are more deeply is a testament to the Schroeder’s skill and abilities.
Schroeder did an incredible job of crafting a high-stakes plot that wasn’t a thrill ride, but rather a realistically paced unfolding of life that allowed Yosi and Xander to be known and loved and grown with. And the themes of hardship and suffering and injustice and where God is in the midst of it were so well written, with such challenging but true conclusions and no pat answers- because in real life, such things don’t exist.
I cannot wait for book three, to see how the rest of the story unfolds, but you can also bet that I’ll be revisiting both Illuminary and Perplexity as I wait. Both because the characters and story are so good I want to spend more time with them, and because the truths within it are so rich one cannot fully absorb everything on just one reading.
I received an ARC. All opinions are my own.
SPOILERS:
As someone who deeply values family, I despised Lavidah from the first time she set foot on the page. But after finishing Perplexity, I believe I may admire her. Her actions, in the end, set her apart from the villain, and a good, honest redemption arc like I think we’re going to get in book three is about the only thing that can override such poor behavior throughout two books.
May 1, 2026
Their lives are about to take an unexpected turn....
I fell in love with Chawna Schroeder's fiction when I read her book The Vault Between Spaces. That book is standalone so I was pretty excited to find out that she was writing a series, The Sceptre & The Stylus. Perplexity is book two in the series and it takes up right after book one, Illuminary ended.
I will admit that, for me at least, Perplexity got off to a bit of a slow start. However, then things started really happening, and wow, did they happen! Assassins, betrayal, winter storms, jealousy, secrets, a hunt for the truth, spies... See what I mean? And that doesn't even address all of the amazingly cool Steampunk gadgets from airships to submersibles, automatons to children's toys, and everything in between. Chawna Schroeder's blend of fantasy and Steampunk is so much fun in this second The Sceptre & The Illuminary novel – just as it was in book one.
Another thing that I found fascinating was that it's not often that a YA book will take on the difficult subject of grief beyond a surface level. Through her characters Chawna Schroeder explores this topic in a way that is comprehensible and tugs at the heart of adult and YA readers alike. That being said, Perplexity is still very much an enjoyable and entertaining read.
My one and only complaint is that cliffhanger at the end of this book! How could the author do this to me? Those revelations and unanswered questions will eat at me until the eventual release of the next The Sceptre & The Illuminary book. Until then....
(I received a copy of this book from the author/publisher. All opinions are entirely my own.)
I fell in love with Chawna Schroeder's fiction when I read her book The Vault Between Spaces. That book is standalone so I was pretty excited to find out that she was writing a series, The Sceptre & The Stylus. Perplexity is book two in the series and it takes up right after book one, Illuminary ended.
I will admit that, for me at least, Perplexity got off to a bit of a slow start. However, then things started really happening, and wow, did they happen! Assassins, betrayal, winter storms, jealousy, secrets, a hunt for the truth, spies... See what I mean? And that doesn't even address all of the amazingly cool Steampunk gadgets from airships to submersibles, automatons to children's toys, and everything in between. Chawna Schroeder's blend of fantasy and Steampunk is so much fun in this second The Sceptre & The Illuminary novel – just as it was in book one.
Another thing that I found fascinating was that it's not often that a YA book will take on the difficult subject of grief beyond a surface level. Through her characters Chawna Schroeder explores this topic in a way that is comprehensible and tugs at the heart of adult and YA readers alike. That being said, Perplexity is still very much an enjoyable and entertaining read.
My one and only complaint is that cliffhanger at the end of this book! How could the author do this to me? Those revelations and unanswered questions will eat at me until the eventual release of the next The Sceptre & The Illuminary book. Until then....
(I received a copy of this book from the author/publisher. All opinions are entirely my own.)
April 29, 2026
Book two of this series has all the feels, but I would recommend reading book one first. There's so much happening to these characters and their growth! I loved the mystery and suspense aspects of this story. Laughing, crying, this book put me through so much, and I didn't want it to end. Faith is worked in naturally, and the world-building is excellent. It's hard not to over-enthusiastically shout that you need to read this series. I can't wait for book three!
Thanks to Celebrate Lit for my digital copy of this book. This review is my own. A positive review is never required.
Thanks to Celebrate Lit for my digital copy of this book. This review is my own. A positive review is never required.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews