In a real life role-playing game, ordinary university students traverse the magical boundaries between the human world and Anfractus in a deadly game with magic and power. A company of four recently lost a member. Andrew's character, Roldan, died in Anfractus, and with no memories of his other life except for shadowy dreams and paranoia, Andrew believes he's going crazy. His friends can't reveal their secret lives to him or Andrew's banishment from Anfractus will become permanent, but their continued lies are straining the already tense friendship.

In Anfractus, the company searches for a fourth member who can help them uncover the basilissa's plot to control Anfractus—but with magical powers that have proven little help and short on allies, the company risks death and banishment themselves if they're caught. Can this unlikely band of heroes stop the basilissa before both worlds are forever changed?

PATH OF SMOKE by Bailey Cunningham is the second Novel of the Parallel Parks, and it jumps right into the plot. I hadn't read the first book, Pile of Bones, and PATH OF SMOKE introduces the characters quickly and makes references to events in Pile of Bones immediately. As there are two worlds and each character has a different name in Anfractus from their real world name, I was confused and felt a bit behind the story as I tried to figure out who everyone was in both worlds and what their connections were to each other for almost a hundred pages. I highly recommend that if you're going to read PATH OF SMOKE you start at the beginning of the series.

Once I finally had all the characters and what had happened in the previous book straightened out, I could appreciate the complexity of the world. I read a lot about Roman civilization and as the author Bailey Cunningham uses many Latin words and Roman customs, the world of Anfractus came to life. I could smell the dirt and unwashed bodies. The perfumed air of the wealthy palaces and hear the strum of music drifting on the night air. Anfractus is portrayed at its very worst and best, from the poorest citizens to the wealthiest. This is a place filled with color, vibrancy, and mystique, and with more Novels of the Parallel Parks to come, Bailey Cunningham can work to reveal more of the hidden players in this dangerous world.

I'll admit that I'm a creature of comfort and I love technology. There was a lingering question in my mind as to the willingness to trade modern conveniences for the use of magic that sometimes works but mostly doesn't in a world where you're either powerful or living in the shadows as you struggle to survive. I couldn't understand why these people were willing to live two lives when there seemed to be very little to gain from it. I guess I'd rather have modern plumbing than magic, which makes me completely lame by most standards.

For fans of intense role-playing fantasies, PATH OF SMOKE by Bailey Cunningham offers a complex world where power shifts back and forth in the shadows, dangerous players remain hidden until they're ready to land the fatal blow, and flawed heroes struggle to do what is needed to save their friends and their world.