The Book of Gems

This third entry in the “Gem Universe” series brings the story full circle, back to where it all began in The Jewel and Her Lapidary. Dr. Devina Brunai defies the orders of her research institution to chase after the mentor who stole her research, her professional reputation, and a prized heirloom from her family’s flight from the Jeweled Valley. Dev believes that her inherited jewel holds the key to academic prestige if it unlocks the ruins of the Palace of Gems, while others want to open the Palace for its long-buried riches. But the Palace itself wants to be opened because the treasure it holds is deadly. Initially, this reads like a story of the viciousness of academic politics working hand in glove with the rapaciousness of empire to exploit a small country for its resources and its heritage. Then it digs deeper, into the history of the Jeweled Valley and Dev’s own family, touching on events in the earlier books of the series and tying them into the present deadly mystery.