Rarely have I come across a fantasy novel as action packed as Secrets of the Fire Sea, the pacing is fast beyond belief and the characters are well-rounded and Hunt, as always, crams a lot of story and plot into a single novel, while featuring some of the same people from his earlier novels - notably Commodore Black. He also manages to bring to life some fascinating new ones, such as vicar turned detective Jethro Daunt and Boxiron, his trusty steam-man assistant (think a steam-driven nanotechnology-based life-form).
This time, the gang are off on an adventure outside the Jackelian kingdom, set on the evil isle of Jago, where high technology still exists, and the land has been protected from polar barbarians by a hard-to-navigate sea of volcanic magma.
As usual with the Jackelian series, the novel is expertly crafted for racheting up the action and tension. While all the books vary and are actually quite different between each other, I have yet to be disappointed with any of the novels in the series so far.
I would love to read more novels such as Secrets of the Fire Sea and February, when each new hardback comes out, is fast becoming my favourite time of the year.