lcasswrites's review against another edition
4.0
Lots of great political intrigue!
This is quite a long read, but I was engaged all the way through, particularly by the ongoing political intrigues that are at the centre of this story. I found that I liked the supporting cast of characters more than the protagonist..they all seemed a bit more engaged and dynanic, but the central relationship between Arsenault and Kyrra was rich and extremely well done. If you like medievil Italian-themed political fantasy with magic and swords and lots of power playing between families, you'll like this one!
This is quite a long read, but I was engaged all the way through, particularly by the ongoing political intrigues that are at the centre of this story. I found that I liked the supporting cast of characters more than the protagonist..they all seemed a bit more engaged and dynanic, but the central relationship between Arsenault and Kyrra was rich and extremely well done. If you like medievil Italian-themed political fantasy with magic and swords and lots of power playing between families, you'll like this one!
alwroteabook's review against another edition
5.0
In a fit of whimsy, I hereby announce I will give everyone five stars, but the reviews may not reflect it.
I didn't love this, but I definitely liked it. It was an interesting tale, set in an alternate renaissance era with all sorts of spies, thieves and archaeologists. The audio was good, capturing Kyrra personality perfectly and detailing her different relationships. The plot is full of intrigue and the worldbuilding is first class. Why didn't I love it? Well, it's me, not you. Much as I love first-person stories on audio, 700+ pages with a ton of world-building packed in makes it hard for me to stay on task. I'm sure if I read it, my opinion would be more favourable, but my TBR doesn't really permit a second crack at a book. It's 4.04 rating says a lot about it, so give it a chance.
I didn't love this, but I definitely liked it. It was an interesting tale, set in an alternate renaissance era with all sorts of spies, thieves and archaeologists. The audio was good, capturing Kyrra personality perfectly and detailing her different relationships. The plot is full of intrigue and the worldbuilding is first class. Why didn't I love it? Well, it's me, not you. Much as I love first-person stories on audio, 700+ pages with a ton of world-building packed in makes it hard for me to stay on task. I'm sure if I read it, my opinion would be more favourable, but my TBR doesn't really permit a second crack at a book. It's 4.04 rating says a lot about it, so give it a chance.
readingwithrogues's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.5
raadelma's review against another edition
4.0
Definitely one of the best indie books I have read. Heavy world-building and constant political scheming were a bit too much at times, but the story was really intriguing and I got very invested to the main characters. Also, that complicated yet surprisingly tender romance, my heart. I have a weakness for well-done character dynamics where characters overcome their relationship's power imbalance and become equals instead.
Overall I liked the flashbacks a bit more than the present timeline, because there was more space for quieter character moments. Eagerly waiting for sequel, though I have to say, I really hope it will include more relevant female characters. The main character Kyrra's bad relationship with most of the plot-significant women in this story (often because of jealousy, of all things) was a bit jarring.
Overall I liked the flashbacks a bit more than the present timeline, because there was more space for quieter character moments. Eagerly waiting for sequel, though I have to say, I really hope it will include more relevant female characters. The main character Kyrra's bad relationship with most of the plot-significant women in this story (often because of jealousy, of all things) was a bit jarring.
kitvaria_sarene's review against another edition
5.0
This is a copy from my part of the SPFBO review for the book on Fantasy Faction. That's also why is says out of 10 stars not out of 5. Find the full review (including other judges views) here: http://fantasy-faction.com/2020/spfbo-spfbo-fortunes-fool-by-angela-boord
Out of the 10 finalists of that contest - this was the winner for me!
I was dithering between giving this a 9 or a 10. I only had one gripe with this one—but it was a big one: I really didn’t like the start. There was so much info dumping, so much names and things to learn and not really much happening to draw me in. I even confess to more or less skim reading chapter two, actually expecting to DNF the book! Chapter three was rather short, so I kept zoning back in. And then with chapter four (around 40 pages), without noticing it really, it caught my attention, slowly reigning me in. Before I knew it I was hooked completely and breezed through the whole 550 pages within a matter of days, being annoyed if I had to put it down!
So that slow start is really the only reason why I was thinking about not giving this one a full 10/10—especially as it turns out I didn’t need all that much stuffed into them, as I understood the book just fine without paying close attention to the beginning.
But comparing it with the other finalists, this one is the one I definitely would want to see win. And so, if for me my other two favourites are straight nines, and I love this one even better? Sod it, it’s an all in from me!
It’s a bit strange, as Fortune’s Fool is not at all the type of book I’d usually pick up. I am one who likes plenty of action, a fast pace and little to no romance. So I was really surprised when a book that is slow, very much focused on the characters with not so much action, and quite some (not cheesy at all) romance was the book that devoured me whole!
I simply loved the prose, the world, the characters and the mystery behind it all. I enjoyed every page I spent with Kyrra and Arsenault and seeing them grow and stretch. I really cared about them and what would happen to them so much I definitely didn’t need any big wars and a giant world to explore to keep me entertained.
While with some books jumping back and forth in time is jarring, it worked really well here. The switches were well placed, felt fluid and added to the story instead of dragging me out.
There’s a good underlying mystery and some twists I definitely didn’t see coming, while I did guess right on others, which balanced out really well between surprising me and yet letting me feel smug at other places.
I really loved this one to no end, and will definitely keep a very close eye on this author in the future!
Out of the 10 finalists of that contest - this was the winner for me!
I was dithering between giving this a 9 or a 10. I only had one gripe with this one—but it was a big one: I really didn’t like the start. There was so much info dumping, so much names and things to learn and not really much happening to draw me in. I even confess to more or less skim reading chapter two, actually expecting to DNF the book! Chapter three was rather short, so I kept zoning back in. And then with chapter four (around 40 pages), without noticing it really, it caught my attention, slowly reigning me in. Before I knew it I was hooked completely and breezed through the whole 550 pages within a matter of days, being annoyed if I had to put it down!
So that slow start is really the only reason why I was thinking about not giving this one a full 10/10—especially as it turns out I didn’t need all that much stuffed into them, as I understood the book just fine without paying close attention to the beginning.
But comparing it with the other finalists, this one is the one I definitely would want to see win. And so, if for me my other two favourites are straight nines, and I love this one even better? Sod it, it’s an all in from me!
It’s a bit strange, as Fortune’s Fool is not at all the type of book I’d usually pick up. I am one who likes plenty of action, a fast pace and little to no romance. So I was really surprised when a book that is slow, very much focused on the characters with not so much action, and quite some (not cheesy at all) romance was the book that devoured me whole!
I simply loved the prose, the world, the characters and the mystery behind it all. I enjoyed every page I spent with Kyrra and Arsenault and seeing them grow and stretch. I really cared about them and what would happen to them so much I definitely didn’t need any big wars and a giant world to explore to keep me entertained.
While with some books jumping back and forth in time is jarring, it worked really well here. The switches were well placed, felt fluid and added to the story instead of dragging me out.
There’s a good underlying mystery and some twists I definitely didn’t see coming, while I did guess right on others, which balanced out really well between surprising me and yet letting me feel smug at other places.
I really loved this one to no end, and will definitely keep a very close eye on this author in the future!
esop's review against another edition
4.0
I always enjoy stories (in any medium, really) that play with structure, so I appreciated Boord going for a nonlinear narrative in her debut. We follow Kyrra's story both in the present and past, with the prose's tense shifting accordingly, which I found to be a nice touch. I think the two narratives played off each other well, and Boord was smart about when she chose to jump from one to the other--oftentimes we stumble upon a piece of information about the book's various mysteries or a character's backstory that then informs and deepens where the story goes in the next section despite being several years earlier or later. It's a clever approach that I'm sure took a ton of meticulous planning on Boord's part.
And speaking of meticulous planning, Boord's worldbuilding is uniformly excellent. There's a ton of history and culture in this world she's created, and it's all laid out in stunning detail. It all feels real, without a single false note. There are a huge amount of details in this book, ranging from the different Houses to how magic operates to the different gods and to much more, but it's all fleshed out at a pace that isn't too overwhelming. Admittedly it was hard keeping track of a bunch of different names at the start of the story, since we are kind of thrown into the middle of things, but it doesn't take long to get a handle on it all and follow along easily.
Though given that the bulk of the book's action, both in the present and past, does take place in roughly the same areas, it did get a little confusing at times keeping track of what the characters' actions and motives were in each timeline, since it was all the same players in all the same environments. But that's a minor nitpick.
I also wasn't totally convinced of the romance, though that might just be a personal preference, since it's often hard for me to buy into character relationships like that. I do still think it was well-written and the characters across the board were fleshed out and written very well. I was invested in the stories of both Kyrra and Arsenault, both of whom have had pretty tumultuous pasts, and most of the supporting characters were just as interesting.
Fortune's Fool is a great debut from Boord, juggling a tricky structure with ease and setting up intriguing characters and conflicts while dishing out compelling mysteries, exciting action, and shocking moments.
And speaking of meticulous planning, Boord's worldbuilding is uniformly excellent. There's a ton of history and culture in this world she's created, and it's all laid out in stunning detail. It all feels real, without a single false note. There are a huge amount of details in this book, ranging from the different Houses to how magic operates to the different gods and to much more, but it's all fleshed out at a pace that isn't too overwhelming. Admittedly it was hard keeping track of a bunch of different names at the start of the story, since we are kind of thrown into the middle of things, but it doesn't take long to get a handle on it all and follow along easily.
Though given that the bulk of the book's action, both in the present and past, does take place in roughly the same areas, it did get a little confusing at times keeping track of what the characters' actions and motives were in each timeline, since it was all the same players in all the same environments. But that's a minor nitpick.
I also wasn't totally convinced of the romance, though that might just be a personal preference, since it's often hard for me to buy into character relationships like that. I do still think it was well-written and the characters across the board were fleshed out and written very well. I was invested in the stories of both Kyrra and Arsenault, both of whom have had pretty tumultuous pasts, and most of the supporting characters were just as interesting.
Fortune's Fool is a great debut from Boord, juggling a tricky structure with ease and setting up intriguing characters and conflicts while dishing out compelling mysteries, exciting action, and shocking moments.
thecmcaplan's review against another edition
5.0
Fortune’s Fool took all my expectations, ripped them out of my arms, and shoved them in a blender until they were ground down to a smooth sludge. And that’s just the first half.
The second half set them on fire, then fed me the ashes. It ripped my heart out and it’s brilliant. I can’t recommend it enough.
The book’s structure is perhaps one of its greatest strengths. Split between past and present, the latter version of Kyrra sets up her situation, and every time we glimpse her past life, we get a chance to peel back the curtains to glimpse the events that led her there. It is an exercise in twining plot and structure with character-building and tension in a way I can’t say I’ve ever seen done quite so effectively before.
The setups in the present also play on the fantasy reader’s expectations. It draws you in with assurances that you know how this type of story is supposed to go. But then we glimpse Kyrra's past, to see how we wound up in this type of story. And it’s—well. I can’t give it away. Suffice to say that the trick that is pulled off so deftly, and it so succinctly encapsulates the story’s themes in microcosm, that I had to lie down when I realized just how thoroughly I’d miscalculated the kind of book I was reading.
I did not trust my expectations for the rest of the book, to my delight.
It’s worth mentioning just how well Boord uses the nuances and minutiae of Medieval life to inform every obscure detail, and it’s difficult to overstate how well the worldbuilding works to complement the plot and character work. It reads as an intensely-personal epic and it brings an oft-neglected vibrancy to fantasy drawn from Medieval history.
It’s also commendable that this interrogation with the politics of the era, and the immorality inherent to it, permeates every aspect of the book as well as it does.
The evils of this era are embodied in what has been done to each of the protagonists by systems larger than themselves. The way they have internalized and made themselves responsible for what has been done to them bleeds through everything from the sentence structure to the relationship building, to the character work, and to the heart of the conflict itself.
This is a book where the gods, in many way, embody systems. Or perhaps a better metaphor might be that they reflect them. And the problem with systems is that they cannot care how you feel about them. It is about people who have been hurt by a world that has no capacity to care for them, despite their desperate desire for it to do so. These characters are complex, messy, and at times it seems as if they’re willing to do anything if it’ll make the institutions all around them just listen.
In this way, Fortune’s Fool becomes an interrogation of exhaustion. It is a book utterly fascinated by how people can keep going when they think they have nothing. And the answer to that is often: find something. Pick a reason. Any reason.
Hell, when the book starts, Kyrra only has a tenuous toehold on her own damn uncertainty as to the fortunes (or lack thereof) of a love interest. But she clings to it, because it's one of the things that keep her going. It’s fantastic.
That’s honestly what I find so compelling about the romance at the center of this book. Love is positioned as the counterweight to despair. Like a sort of second cousin to the redemptive power of love.
These characters look despair in the face and often embody each other’s reason to reject it. The book manages to avoid sinking to the grimdark-gloom through the way it utilizes romance. Love gives every character a reason to either hold on or go on, as the need arises. It’s used as the fuel to keep characters hoping. Even when it’s a fool’s hope.
Fortune’s Fool is a book about messy, broken characters. It’s about exhausted people who keep walking because it’s all that they can do until they reach a new place and find a real reason to keep walking.
It’s an utterly brilliant book, and I absolutely recommend it.
The second half set them on fire, then fed me the ashes. It ripped my heart out and it’s brilliant. I can’t recommend it enough.
The book’s structure is perhaps one of its greatest strengths. Split between past and present, the latter version of Kyrra sets up her situation, and every time we glimpse her past life, we get a chance to peel back the curtains to glimpse the events that led her there. It is an exercise in twining plot and structure with character-building and tension in a way I can’t say I’ve ever seen done quite so effectively before.
The setups in the present also play on the fantasy reader’s expectations. It draws you in with assurances that you know how this type of story is supposed to go. But then we glimpse Kyrra's past, to see how we wound up in this type of story. And it’s—well. I can’t give it away. Suffice to say that the trick that is pulled off so deftly, and it so succinctly encapsulates the story’s themes in microcosm, that I had to lie down when I realized just how thoroughly I’d miscalculated the kind of book I was reading.
I did not trust my expectations for the rest of the book, to my delight.
It’s worth mentioning just how well Boord uses the nuances and minutiae of Medieval life to inform every obscure detail, and it’s difficult to overstate how well the worldbuilding works to complement the plot and character work. It reads as an intensely-personal epic and it brings an oft-neglected vibrancy to fantasy drawn from Medieval history.
It’s also commendable that this interrogation with the politics of the era, and the immorality inherent to it, permeates every aspect of the book as well as it does.
The evils of this era are embodied in what has been done to each of the protagonists by systems larger than themselves. The way they have internalized and made themselves responsible for what has been done to them bleeds through everything from the sentence structure to the relationship building, to the character work, and to the heart of the conflict itself.
This is a book where the gods, in many way, embody systems. Or perhaps a better metaphor might be that they reflect them. And the problem with systems is that they cannot care how you feel about them. It is about people who have been hurt by a world that has no capacity to care for them, despite their desperate desire for it to do so. These characters are complex, messy, and at times it seems as if they’re willing to do anything if it’ll make the institutions all around them just listen.
In this way, Fortune’s Fool becomes an interrogation of exhaustion. It is a book utterly fascinated by how people can keep going when they think they have nothing. And the answer to that is often: find something. Pick a reason. Any reason.
Hell, when the book starts, Kyrra only has a tenuous toehold on her own damn uncertainty as to the fortunes (or lack thereof) of a love interest. But she clings to it, because it's one of the things that keep her going. It’s fantastic.
That’s honestly what I find so compelling about the romance at the center of this book. Love is positioned as the counterweight to despair. Like a sort of second cousin to the redemptive power of love.
These characters look despair in the face and often embody each other’s reason to reject it. The book manages to avoid sinking to the grimdark-gloom through the way it utilizes romance. Love gives every character a reason to either hold on or go on, as the need arises. It’s used as the fuel to keep characters hoping. Even when it’s a fool’s hope.
Fortune’s Fool is a book about messy, broken characters. It’s about exhausted people who keep walking because it’s all that they can do until they reach a new place and find a real reason to keep walking.
It’s an utterly brilliant book, and I absolutely recommend it.
crownlullaby's review against another edition
4.0
**3.5 rounded up**
This was good but maybe a bit too long
This was good but maybe a bit too long
queenterribletimy's review against another edition
3.0
Fortune's Fool is one of the SPFBO5 finalists I've read as a judge. Find out what my team had to say about it in our joint review. We gave it an overall score of 7.5/10
Here follows my own review. I personally rated Fortune's Fool 6.5/10 which translates to 3.5*
I honestly wasn't as impressed with Fortune’s Fool as everyone else seems to be. With its 737 pages, this book is a monster. That being said, Fortune’s Fool can be a real page turner at times, especially in the first half, when we are in the present timeline. Even so, at 75% I was really tempted to just DNF it, because I just couldn't find it in myself to care for any of the characters, or the plot, or any of it, really. I also think this book would have benefited, if it was shorter, and personally I think I could do without the Silva/Meli plotline altogether as they didn't really add anything to the story - except a few details about a past event. Oh and the sudden appearence of the gods out of nowhere - I confess that plotline is also confusing to me, but it might be just me.
Let's talk a bit about the characters - we have a large cast of them, most of them with their own agenda. Which is all good but at times I absolutely had no idea who wants what and why and I guess that also was why I just wanted to quit at one point. Kyrra is probably the only one with clear motivations at least the only one I could make sense of anyway.
The book is written in two timelines - past and present which didn't bother me much, though if it was written in a single timeline, I don't think I would have gotten through the book. Young Kyrra just grated on my nerves endlessly. I liked older Kyrra more and honestly the present timeline started out really strong. I enjoyed the thrill of Kyrra looking for answers and getting into trouble while trying to be invisible in a city in which death was waiting for her if caught. Somewhere around the 50% mark things turned, and I started to warm up toward young Kyrra and get annoyed with older Kyrra. I think, in young Kyrra's case what bothered me is that we never really see her struggle. Sure, we are being told she does, but I think I would have liked to see her emotions more. About her transition of life, about adapting to her new circumstances. I just didn't feel anything for her - not symphaty or pity or anything. Arsenault, I kinda liked throughout, but I would have liked some more of character growth for him, or a different arc or something - he more or less remained the same mysterious person who doesn't talk about his past (for good reasons, but still) and just couldn't see how these two would work out together.
Okay, I know this review has been very critical, but you can give one thing to Fortune’s Fool, it has a big, immersive world built up for it. It's clear that Angela Boord meticulously created her world which is full of details. The villa and the land feels really real. I would have liked to spend more time discovering the city.
Fortune’s Fool is clearly a character driven fantasy, with an Italian-like setting. So if that's your thing, I'm sure you'll enjoy this one. For me, however Fortune’s Fool had nothing to make it stand out from the crowd - neither the plot or characters made it unforgettable, though Angela Boord has a strong prose, eye for details and the potiential to write great books in the future. I definitely encourage you to give Fortune’s Fool a go.
Here follows my own review. I personally rated Fortune's Fool 6.5/10 which translates to 3.5*
I honestly wasn't as impressed with Fortune’s Fool as everyone else seems to be. With its 737 pages, this book is a monster. That being said, Fortune’s Fool can be a real page turner at times, especially in the first half, when we are in the present timeline. Even so, at 75% I was really tempted to just DNF it, because I just couldn't find it in myself to care for any of the characters, or the plot, or any of it, really. I also think this book would have benefited, if it was shorter, and personally I think I could do without the Silva/Meli plotline altogether as they didn't really add anything to the story - except a few details about a past event. Oh and the sudden appearence of the gods out of nowhere - I confess that plotline is also confusing to me, but it might be just me.
Let's talk a bit about the characters - we have a large cast of them, most of them with their own agenda. Which is all good but at times I absolutely had no idea who wants what and why and I guess that also was why I just wanted to quit at one point. Kyrra is probably the only one with clear motivations at least the only one I could make sense of anyway.
The book is written in two timelines - past and present which didn't bother me much, though if it was written in a single timeline, I don't think I would have gotten through the book. Young Kyrra just grated on my nerves endlessly. I liked older Kyrra more and honestly the present timeline started out really strong. I enjoyed the thrill of Kyrra looking for answers and getting into trouble while trying to be invisible in a city in which death was waiting for her if caught. Somewhere around the 50% mark things turned, and I started to warm up toward young Kyrra and get annoyed with older Kyrra. I think, in young Kyrra's case what bothered me is that we never really see her struggle. Sure, we are being told she does, but I think I would have liked to see her emotions more. About her transition of life, about adapting to her new circumstances. I just didn't feel anything for her - not symphaty or pity or anything. Arsenault, I kinda liked throughout, but I would have liked some more of character growth for him, or a different arc or something - he more or less remained the same mysterious person who doesn't talk about his past (for good reasons, but still) and just couldn't see how these two would work out together.
Okay, I know this review has been very critical, but you can give one thing to Fortune’s Fool, it has a big, immersive world built up for it. It's clear that Angela Boord meticulously created her world which is full of details. The villa and the land feels really real. I would have liked to spend more time discovering the city.
Fortune’s Fool is clearly a character driven fantasy, with an Italian-like setting. So if that's your thing, I'm sure you'll enjoy this one. For me, however Fortune’s Fool had nothing to make it stand out from the crowd - neither the plot or characters made it unforgettable, though Angela Boord has a strong prose, eye for details and the potiential to write great books in the future. I definitely encourage you to give Fortune’s Fool a go.
emmacatereads's review against another edition
5.0
The book was a TOTAL surprise. I don’t even remember how it ended up on my TBR, only that it showed up at the top and I dove in without much thought for what I was getting into, and accidentally stumbled into one of my favorite reads of this year.
It takes place in a Venetian inspired fantasy world dominated by two powerful Houses. Kyrra is the only daughter of a minor house caught between the warring factions, and when a suitor with ill intentions throws her family and life into a tailspin, she is exiled from her family and becomes a serf on their land. The story jumps between Kyra’s struggles to navigate her new life in the past, dogged by a strange new magic, and the present where she has become a wandering gavaro (mercenary) bent on revenge against her erstwhile suitor and determined to locate the other man she has come to love.
Despite the intricate politics and compelling world-building this remains an intensely character-driven novel. Kyrra is easily my top protagonist of the year. She is practical without being boring, brave without being reckless, sympathetic without being obnoxious, and tough without being cruel. Boord thoughtfully explores heavy themes of disability and trauma (Kyrra is a one-armed amputee who has had a difficult past abortion) and drives home strong messages about bodily autonomy and identity. Arsenault is also delightful: alternately taciturn and tender but always, always burning bright in his devotion and ideals. Even the minor characters leave a strong imprint: troubled, unpredictable Lobardin; naive, empathetic Mikelo. I wish we'd gotten more from Jon Barra, not in the least because his role and loyalties in the story were very confusing, but other than his character being ill-defined I really don't have many complaints.
Also: THE ROMANCE!! It’s not often I get pulled this deep into a literary relationship, but Kyrra and Aresnault were unparalleled paramours. Boord did an amazing job of making this a “romantic fantasy” rather than a “fantasy romance”, where I felt like the subplot added much to the development of the narrative rather than subtracting from it. I’m also a sucker for the memory loss trope and it’s done incredibly well here. Give me those strong, confusing feelings for a person who feels strangely familiar yet you’ve never met! Give me those pained glances and lingering touches for a lover who can’t recall your face!
Clocking in at nearly 700 pages, this book is certainly a commitment, but I cannot recommend it highly enough for fans of political intrigue, unique magic systems and religious lore, and well-executed, slow-burn romance.
It takes place in a Venetian inspired fantasy world dominated by two powerful Houses. Kyrra is the only daughter of a minor house caught between the warring factions, and when a suitor with ill intentions throws her family and life into a tailspin, she is exiled from her family and becomes a serf on their land. The story jumps between Kyra’s struggles to navigate her new life in the past, dogged by a strange new magic, and the present where she has become a wandering gavaro (mercenary) bent on revenge against her erstwhile suitor and determined to locate the other man she has come to love.
Despite the intricate politics and compelling world-building this remains an intensely character-driven novel. Kyrra is easily my top protagonist of the year. She is practical without being boring, brave without being reckless, sympathetic without being obnoxious, and tough without being cruel. Boord thoughtfully explores heavy themes of disability and trauma (Kyrra is a one-armed amputee who has had a difficult past abortion) and drives home strong messages about bodily autonomy and identity. Arsenault is also delightful: alternately taciturn and tender but always, always burning bright in his devotion and ideals. Even the minor characters leave a strong imprint: troubled, unpredictable Lobardin; naive, empathetic Mikelo. I wish we'd gotten more from Jon Barra, not in the least because his role and loyalties in the story were very confusing, but other than his character being ill-defined I really don't have many complaints.
Also: THE ROMANCE!! It’s not often I get pulled this deep into a literary relationship, but Kyrra and Aresnault were unparalleled paramours. Boord did an amazing job of making this a “romantic fantasy” rather than a “fantasy romance”, where I felt like the subplot added much to the development of the narrative rather than subtracting from it. I’m also a sucker for the memory loss trope and it’s done incredibly well here. Give me those strong, confusing feelings for a person who feels strangely familiar yet you’ve never met! Give me those pained glances and lingering touches for a lover who can’t recall your face!
Clocking in at nearly 700 pages, this book is certainly a commitment, but I cannot recommend it highly enough for fans of political intrigue, unique magic systems and religious lore, and well-executed, slow-burn romance.