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Read Above His Proper Station, book 2 of Lawrence Watt-Evans's "The Fall of the Sorcerers".
This is very much the 2nd book in what appears to be a trilogy, and continues the story left off in the 1st, A Young Man Without Magic, where the titular young man tries to carry out the legacy of a dead friend and ends up a fugitive on the run for challenging the socio-political status quo.
This volume carries on his further adventures and changes in both his own status and the developments in the Empire prompted both by his own actions last book, as well as those of others whom he intersected, from taking refuge with the lowest of the low, to confronting nearly the highest of the high, before it all goes pear-shaped again.
I quite liked it, although I happen to like coming-of-age stuff mixed with a healthy dose of political intrigue and social upheaval.
As far as style goes, this is kind of to Watt-Evans' Ethshar books what Steven Brust's "Paarfi" books are to his "Taltos" ones in the Dragaera series. With all the different styles of magic practiced in the different neighbouring lands, you can almost kind of see it as a sort of future Ethshar, which has become less medieval-ish and more proto-industrialized (and where people converse in that baroquely florid Enlightenment style).
Moderate recommend, because you really do need to read the 1st and follow up with the as-yet-unpublished 3rd book in the series to fully get the story, although there's a valiant attempt at catch-up recap in the first chapter.
But I enjoyed reading this and look forward to the conclusion (assuming this is trilogy and not a longer series).
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