by Curtis Craddock
Expected publication: August 29th 2017 by Tor Books
Description:
A polymath princess and her faithful musketeer must unravel the plot of a thousand-year-old madman in order to save a foreign kingdom from a disastrous civil war.
Caelum is an uninhabitable gas giant like Jupiter. High above it are the Risen Kingdoms, occupying flying continents called cratons. Remnants of a shattered world, these vast disks of soaring stone may be a thousand miles across. Suspended by magic, they float in the upper layers of Caelum's clouds.
Born with a deformed hand and utter lack of the family's blood magic, Isabelle is despised by her cruel father. She is happy to be neglected so she can secretly pursue her illicit passion for math and science. Then, a surprising offer of an arranged royal marriage blows her life wide open and launches her and Jeane-Claude on an adventure that will take them from the Isle des Zephyrs in l'Empire Céleste to the very different Kingdom of Aragoth, where magic deals not with blood, but with mirrors.
My review:
An Alchemy of Masques and Mirrors caught my eye first because of the cover and second because of the description, and I must say that I very much enjoyed it.
My favorite part is that Isabelle and Jeane-Claude are both awesome leading characters. Isabelle is a fantastic heroine, headstrong and smart, but in a patriarchal society that would have her killed should she reveal her secret studies into science and math. Jeane-Claude is a king's musketeer whose sole mission is to protect Isabelle, but he hides behind the guise of a drunken exile so no one takes him seriously. The story follows each of them in turn, and though the story is in third person, I still felt a strong connection to these characters.
Besides the well-developed characters, the action and the danger they face insert just the right amount of tension into the story, and add to that the mystery and the political intrigue, the fights and the narrow escapes, and even a little bit of romance, and you have one excellent read.
And, the ending is satisfying. No spoilers here, but I wasn't able to guess the outcome, and when it came, I closed the book feeling like it couldn't have ended any other way. I'd love to read another book in this world, but this one looks like a standalone.
Anyhow, overall this book was awesome and I loved it. I strongly recommend this to folks who enjoy high adventure, magic, and intrigue with a touch of steampunk.
I received the review copy of this book from NetGalley.
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