When he had returned for home last time, it had been after shutting down the QPS machine which had intertwined countless realities, and had somehow wound up with the source... the powerful, almost magical entity that creates "threads" that can be used to change reality around you... embedded within his chest. In his "real world" he had to fight to keep it quiet, so no one would know about it. Here, however, he was one of many "threaders" as they were called... those who could see, interact with and control these threads to affect the world around them. Well, maybe not "just" another threader, as his control and ability was beyond what most other threaders could accomplish.
Darwin finds himself back in old haunts, but while in some ways things look almost like he just left, in other ways they look different and deserted. He can see that things weren't "all good" since he left. Even without the QPS... things weren't going well at all. For one thing, the "threads" are few and far between... and they act sluggish and hard to control. It now takes several threaders to do what one could have easily done last time he was here. And the Qabal is still around and causing problems... and still, somehow, making skends, humanoid creatures who were once humans, but have been twisted by the threads into monsters that are strong, fast, untiring and burn whomever they touch.
If that's not bad enough, Darwin has his own problems. He's become a bit of a legend since he killed the QPS, freed a lot of skends, and ported to another world. Some see him as a hero, most blame him for the weakened threads in the world, and some radical fanatics see him as some sort of messiah, believing he will someday return to the world and start the QPS again. Whether they want to kill him or worship him, it's all attention that Darwin just doesn't want.
Finding that he can't hole (teleport) like he used to, thanks to the threads in this world being sluggish and his own source refusing to respond to his desires most of the time, Darwin catches a ride with traveling performers or "Dancers" as they call themselves, but they have to make a stop for some performances in Las Vegas. That's bad news because, as it turns out, Las Vegas is strictly a No-Threader Zone. They have special police specifically for sniffing them out. But, it's only for a few days, right? What could possibly go wrong...
Well, of course things do go wrong and they find out a secret about Las Vegas that will complicate matters. Having nothing to return to in his world, Darwin is all about helping this one, but he's going to have to learn to work side-by-side with others if they have any chance, because, just like the rest of this world, his control over the threads is not as good as it once was.
Once Threader War really got underway, I enjoyed the ride. There was on-the-edge-of-your-seat action at times, as well as some slower moments with some character development that made the characters more believable. I say "once it got going," because the intro was a bit odd. It felt like a bit of a whirlwind, moving too quickly, but at the same time, glazing over parts of the story to get to "the good stuff." The first part of the book felt almost like a "last time on"-style recap that you might see in a television show for those who might have forgotten how we got to the point that the story starts. That felt odd and a bit off-putting, but once Darwin actually finds people in the other world and the story that takes place "over there" begins, it smooths out and gets good.
If you read and enjoyed Threader Origins, I highly recommend Threader War. If you haven't, but you're interested, I recommend starting with Threader Origins. Yes there's a harried-paced recap of sorts at the beginning of Threader War, but it really is not a replacement for reading the first book.
