Genre: GENRE
LGBTQ+ Category: IDENTITY
Reviewer: REVIEWERNAME
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About The Book
Sensitive, soft-spoken Laurel Aleandri wakes at age eight to discover the world around her has changed—deepened. The rug under her feet feels softer, her father’s freshly-baked bread steams with joy, and his hymns carry a life of their own. A descendent of the Damica—women both praised and feared for their gifts—Laurel’s power is unlike her mother’s. Instead of reading fortunes, she feels into hearts and minds with a light brush of her fingertips.
As is the tradition of the Damica, she is whisked away to the Accademia Marl, only to be swallowed by a darker side of her gift. Litha, her headmistress calls it—a madness that sweeps through the Damica with her empathic ability. Shuttered away, devoid of warmth and light, Laurel finds herself enraptured by flowers and drawn to the moon. . . gentle, beautiful things that keep the darkness within from stirring.
But thrust into a world of politics and deceit, Laurel’s headmistress warns that deep empathy is more dangerous and valuable than she knows. She is sold to a general as a bride—and a weapon that could reverse the tides of her kingdom’s war, which sits on a knife’s edge of defeat.
Pressed like a flower between the pages of fate and chance, Laurel flees, placing her faith in a shattered swordsman with a quick blade and a biting cynicism, while the general she runs from pursues her relentlessly. Haunted by shadow demons, violent visions, and omens of death, Laurel must chance her dark depths to determine not only her own fate, but that of every person she encounters.
Fate and chance. Balance and adjustment. Empathy and madness. Is it better to live in chains—or to embrace the shadows?
The Review
Laurel is a Damica, a woman with the gift of magic. Her gift is the ability to see into people’s minds and hearts, but it has a darker side to it too, which manifests at night, when madness takes over.
Sent to the Academy Marl for training, Laurel is forced to drink a tea to suppress the madness which makes her docile and unable to properly use her other gifts. She is helped by her best friend, Suzette, who hides agendas of her own.
When she is chosen to be sent to court with some of the other Damica to make a match with someone prominent, Laurel just wants to escape. But as fate would have it, she has an encounter with General Grimstaad, who nearly assaults her and maims her friend Suzette.
But when she is betrothed/sold to the general by the headmistress of Academy Marl without her knowledge and her father’s consent, Laurel escapes with Suzette’s help. Her only chance of salvation lies with the mysterious Order Umbilicus, to which her father belongs.
General Grimstaad belongs to the Deos Tactigit, an arm of the military that’s known for their cruelty as well as their ruthless efficiency, and Grimstaad is not in the habit of letting go of things—or people—that he considers his possessions.
But Laurel has never set foot outside the world of the academy, and the order is halfway across the country. Alone, with no one and nothing to depend on, can she make it before the general finds her?
Let me be honest, I didn’t go into this book expecting to enjoy it, and yet I found I couldn’t put it down. Laurel is nicknamed “the viper” for her ability to see into people’s hearts without their consent or knowledge, but in the end, she is just a woman trying to survive in a world that treats them as dirt. Even the gifted Damica are persecuted and killed without reason, and for someone like Laurel to remain unwed is impossible, since her gift is also a weapon to be used against enemies.
I liked Corcoran and the development of his relationship with Laurel. Grimstaad and the Deos Tactigit are both quite hateful. Freeman’s world is very realistic and dark, and in these times, Laurel’s plight hits especially hard.
This book has an entirely different feel to it. It’s dark, but also feels light, very much like Laurel’s gift with its light and dark sides to it. Highly recommended.
The Reviewer
Rari is an author and editor writing under the name of Niranjan K. She is an avid reader of all things fantasy, and loves to discourse at length about her favourite books as well as shows. This blog is the space where she will be sharing her views and insights of the books, shows and movies that she likes.
