Why this book: The next book in Colin Wilson’s Spider World Series, following The Desert, The Tower, The Fortress, and The Delta. In some configurations of the Spider World series, the first three books are combined into one, entitled The Tower, The Delta is number 2, and this book is number 3. 

Summary in 5 Sentences: This book begins with Niall now recognized as the lord emissary of the plant goddess who the spiders recognize as their worldly and spiritual leader, and as such,  Niall is given full authority and treated as a demi-god.  The truce between the Death Spiders and humans is based on an agreement that Spiders would not harm humans and vice versa. But when one of the Death Spiders is found murdered, the treaty and the Death Spiders’ trust in Niall’s willingness and ability to fulfill it is in jeopardy and Niall cecomes the lead detective investigator to find out who killed the spider and why.  In his research, Niall slowly realizes that there is another threat to the peaceful world he rules – and it appears to come from a different group of beings that live outside Spider World, led by a powerful leader  called The Magician who apparently has supernatural and paranormal powers that exceed Niall’s or the formidable powers of the Death Spiders

My impressions. This volume of the Spider World series is a who dunnit as Niall desperately needs to solve the murder of one of the Death Spider’s guards in order to protect the fragile treaty that he had negotiated with the Death Spiders to free the humans from their role as workers and slaves subject to the Death Spiders.  In Spider culture it was inconceivable that another Spider could have murdered one of the guards to the Death Spider’s palace, but it was inconceivable to Nial that a human would choose to, much less be physically capable of murdering a spider.

Niall metaphorically puts on his Sherlock Holmes hat to investigate the murder, looking at the evidence, pursuing the clues, considering all possibilities.  In this process we learn more about the Death Spider culture, its history and the city they live in.  We also are introduced to more of the mental powers the spiders have, how energy and communication can flow between beings mentally, and how the Spiders are able to project images and scenes of what they recall telepathically to others – to Niall as well as other Spiders.  And we learn that in this world, objects can carry and transmit energy from powerful beings who are physically offset from that object  – like an amulets or a talisman in the Occult world.

Niall knows he’s up against something powerful and evil, but he doesn’t know who or why.  He goes into the white tower to consult the Steegmaster, and sensors inside the white tower also pick up something different and possibly nefarious that seems now to be in play.  His investigation leads to Niall being given the privilege of being able to interrogate the memories of long dead Spider Lords who explained to him the long history of the Spider world, who their antagonists were several centuries ago, when the Spiders were indeed at war with a group in the mountains,  but for centuries, they hadn’t bothered one another. Then this murder. Why? 

Niall follows leads, gathers clues that he must  put together before he can  decide how to keep this murder and potential future murders or assaults on the Spiders from destroying the  peace treaty he’d negotiated with the sSpiders.  He came to understand that the leader of the mysterious and powerful hostile force is known as The Magician who it seems lives in an underground city deep in the mountains outside and away from the Spider City. The Magician is powerful enough to be able to remotely influence, control or do damage to people and things a great distance from his city.  Niall is helpless to save one person who had been hexed, and his own brother is in a precarious state of health, a victim of the Magician’s pwoer. 

The book concludes with Niall deciding that he had to personally go find and confront the Magician.