March 20, 2017
This superior novel blends passionate romance and sweeping magic in the first-person, present-tense narrative of a young woman struggling with her destiny in a magical analogue of 13th-century Britain. Elanna was only five when King Antoine seized her as a hostage to stop her father from plotting revolt. She’s 19 now, saturated with the attitudes of the royal court but still drawn to the ancient stone circles where the forbidden magic of her northern homeland lurks. Elanna has been taught to deny everything she is, or could be; she knows that she has a special kinship with plants and has the power to control them, but she has subsumed that into planning a career in botany. All this must change when the king is poisoned, she is accused of the murder, and she flees from smothering safety to the wild, free danger of her potential role as “steward of the land.” Throughout, she is aided, tempted, and intoxicated by Lord Jahan, a conflicted sorcerer himself. Watching Elanna’s gentle desires merge with the angry needs of her oppressed people is fascinating, and Bates has a delicate, precise touch with human and superhuman relationships.
April 15, 2017
In this debut novel, a young woman must rediscover her ancient powers of earth magic to save a kingdom. Elanna Valtai can make flowers sprout from seeds in her hands and specters rise from ancient stones. But magic has been outlawed for 200 years, ever since the lands of Eren and Caeris were conquered by the foreign empire of Paladis. So El must keep concealed a power she doesn't understand. As a political hostage taken from the royal Valtai family at a young age, El has been treated kindly by her father's enemy, King Antoine, brought up as one of his daughters. But when the king is murdered and El accused, she is forced to flee and return home to a family and people she scarcely remembers. The narrative is most at home in its magical elements, where stone circles come alive with the spirits of ancestors and tree sap sings. But the characters feel thinly drawn, especially El, whose relationships with the king and his family are unconvincing, making the story's foundation feel inauthentic. And while it's a convention to borrow from reality, so much of the story is so loosely disguised it may be distracting to readers. Bates' father god of the Caerisians is a harp-playing deity called "Dagod," while Dagda is the name of a harp-playing god central to Irish myth. El's ancestors are called "the Children of Anu," while ancient Irish myth tells of The Children of Danu. The premise of the novel itself is torn from the Roman conquering of ancient Britain and the (much later) Jacobite rebellion, complete with a "Bonny Prince" Finn, come back to inspire the rebels and claim his throne. Given that Bates had such magical material to work with, her lack of depth and ingenuity is disappointing.
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May 15, 2017
DEBUT Elanna always knew she served as a hostage to guarantee the good behavior of her family, who opposed the rulers of Eren after they conquered her homeland of Caeris. Comfortable in her cage-like existence, she's grown to love King Antoine, who treated her as a daughter and allowed her to indulge her love of plants. When the king is poisoned and she's accused of murder, Elanna goes on the run. With allies willing to escort her to her family home in Caeris, including Lord Jahan, the emperor's alluring envoy, and in unfamiliar surroundings, Elanna releases the magic she has always suppressed, proving she is heir to the power of the land. She also opens up to Jahan, who has forbidden abilities of his own. Bates deftly builds Elanna's character, transforming her from an overly naive pawn into a confident woman growing into her powers as she allows herself to explore love. VERDICT This debut is ideal for fans of romantic fantasy such as Naomi Novik's Uprooted or Juliet Marillier's Daughter of the Forest. It should have great teen crossover appeal.--MM
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