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servant mage
Aug. 22nd, 2021 08:56 pmKate Elliott writes long fantasy and space opera series that are densely packed with world-building. Servant Mage is the first installment in a new YA series. In Elliott terms, the YA part means there's only one viewpoint character and the plot develops more quickly. This novel also gestures toward a love triangle involving the heroine Fellian and two nobles of very different backgrounds, though my sense is that the series will reconfigure the YA love-triangle trope rather than leaning into it.
As Servant Mage opens, Fellian is illegally teaching a friend to read. A few decades before that lesson, a rebellion overthrew an oppressive monarchy. Because mages once served the monarchy, the new government oppresses them in turn, binding children with mage talents into service and refusing to teach them the details of their craft. A secretive group of mage Loyalists recruits Fellian because her talent completes their team: together, they make a full hand of earth, air, water, fire, and aether mages. By combining their skills, they can locate a baby who might become the next monarch--but the government's August Protector is ahead of them.
In another fantasy novel, the baby's right to rule would be unquestioned. But Kate Elliott is more interested in exploring the way inherited power shapes character than she is in justifying it. We see the damage that the Protector's government causes, but Elliott slowly shows us the other kinds of damage that the Loyalists take for granted. Fellian's loyalties lie somewhere else. By the end of the book, she's talking to her own friends and kin about what self-determination looks like. I'm very interested in seeing how this develops across the course of the series!
(I read this book as an ARC courtesy of Netgalley.)
As Servant Mage opens, Fellian is illegally teaching a friend to read. A few decades before that lesson, a rebellion overthrew an oppressive monarchy. Because mages once served the monarchy, the new government oppresses them in turn, binding children with mage talents into service and refusing to teach them the details of their craft. A secretive group of mage Loyalists recruits Fellian because her talent completes their team: together, they make a full hand of earth, air, water, fire, and aether mages. By combining their skills, they can locate a baby who might become the next monarch--but the government's August Protector is ahead of them.
In another fantasy novel, the baby's right to rule would be unquestioned. But Kate Elliott is more interested in exploring the way inherited power shapes character than she is in justifying it. We see the damage that the Protector's government causes, but Elliott slowly shows us the other kinds of damage that the Loyalists take for granted. Fellian's loyalties lie somewhere else. By the end of the book, she's talking to her own friends and kin about what self-determination looks like. I'm very interested in seeing how this develops across the course of the series!
(I read this book as an ARC courtesy of Netgalley.)