The Court War

 

The Court War (The Godstone #2)- Violette Malan

DAW/Penguin Group

Release Date: July 25, 2023

Rating: 📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: The second book in this epic fantasy saga spins a tale of magic and danger, as a healer finds herself pulled deeper into a web of secrets and world-ending magic.

With innovative worldbuilding, witty banter, and world-ending magic, The Court War is epic fantasy at its best and most compelling.

Fenra Lowens, with her partner Elvanyn Karamisk, has already faced the Godstone. Now she has a different, simpler getting the stick-in-the-mud practitioners of the White Court to return to the old ways of practice, the ways that keep the World healthy.

But before she has a chance to present her case, the uneasy balance of power between the practitioners of the White Court and the mundanes of the Red Court—in existence since the World itself began—suddenly erupts into open warfare.

Fenra is torn between helping her friends and fellow practitioners and moving ahead with the demands of an increasingly impatient World. Though she has help from unexpected allies, Fenra begins to suspect that this conflict isn't just about politics. The hand of an old enemy may be at work here....

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After the events of The Godstone, Fenra Lowens goes to the council of the White Court of magic practitioners to encourage them to return to the old ways, when practitioners traveled through the different Modes and kept the World healthy. But the council is set in its ways and sees its job as keeping power for themselves at the expense of others- and is happy to make Fenra the scapegoat when things start to go wrong. When the Red Court nonmagical council declares war on the White Court to try and take the White's power for itself, chaos descends. The average people are the ones in danger. The World is not happy and is ready to create chaos to prove it. And Fenra is caught in the middle of all of the battles.

Fenra is in the unenviable position of knowing how to save the World and has pretty much no one in power who is willing to listen. Fortunately, she's incredibly stubborn and determined and has the dogged instincts of a healer who will fight to the end for her patient. And her allies are as stubborn as she is, particularly Elva. I quite liked that about both of them. It was never a question of "if" something could be done with them, but "how". They were also smart enough to question who they could trust, but once someone had earned their trust they would do whatever it took to rescue them if needed. Which happened often because there were plenty of backstabbing politicians and others out only for themselves!

Once again, Violette Malan shows her incredible talent as a world-builder in The Court War. She builds not one world but multiple ones (personally, I hope we get to spend more time exploring the New Zone if there's a third book- there sounds like a lot that could be done with a world and different magic there!) as well as the sentient World itself; there are a variety of belief systems that fit together; magic with carefully constructed rules that we never feel we're being lectured over but discover in often unique ways. From the very food and drink to the clothes and architecture around our heroes, Malan seems to effortlessly create her wonderful worlds. Yet she never forgets that the most important thing, perhaps the most grounding thing, of the story are the human beings. Humans in all their extremes, both good and bad, are what make the world go round, and that is certainly true here.

I definitely recommend reading The Godstone before reading The Court War, since the events of book 1 lead directly to book 2. You can start with book 2 and catch up, but you'll enjoy it more reading them in order. 

I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review

The Godstone

 The Godstone- Violette Malan

DAW/Penguin Group

Release Date: August 3, 2021

Rating: 📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: Fenra Lowens has been a working Practitioner, using the magic of healing ever since she graduated from the White Court and left the City to live in the Outer Modes. When one of her patients, Arlyn Albainil, is summoned to the City to execute the final testament of a distant cousin, she agrees to help him. Arlyn suspects the White Court wants to access his cousin's Practitioner's vault. Arlyn can't ignore the summons: he knows the vault holds an artifact so dangerous he can't allow it to be freed.

Fenra quickly figures out that there is no cousin, that Arlyn himself is the missing Practitioner, the legendary Xandra Albainil, rumored to have made a Godstone with which he once almost destroyed the world. Sealing away the Godstone left Arlyn powerless and ill, and he needs Fenra to help him deal with the possibly sentient artifact before someone else finds and uses it.

Along the way they encounter Elvanyn Karamisk, an old friend whom Arlyn once betrayed. Convinced that Arlyn has not changed, and intends to use Fenra to recover the Godstone and with it all his power, Elvanyn joins them to keep Fenra safe and help her destroy the artifact.

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In this world of magical Practitioners and mundanes, Fenra Lowens is a Practitioner with a gift for healing who prefers living in a small village far from the politics of court in the City. When her patient Arlyn must go to the City to deal with a false will naming him heir to a distant, ancient, cousin Fenra agrees to go with him to help. But it doesn't take long before she understands the truth: the man she knows as Arlyn, a man with no magic, was once the "cousin" Xandra Albainil- known as one of the most powerful Practitioners ever before he disappeared. Turns out, when he made a Godstone and discovered what most sensible people would have guessed (namely that using or creating anything with enough power to be called a Godstone is a BAD idea), he did have the sense to know he couldn't control it. Xandra sealed the Godstone away in his vault, but it took all of his power to do it.  Now people are looking for it to finish what he started and he needs Fenra's help to stop it. 

Malan's characters are multilayered and nuanced, we discover them slowly even though they are the ones telling us the story. The facet they show the world is never more than the first layer to a person full of strengths and flaws, untapped bravery and stubbornness. Fenra in particular wants her quiet life, but by the end is willing to do whatever it takes to deal with the Godstone. Arlyn is a brilliant character-or characters. He is the mild-mannered, quiet, brilliant woodworker the village children like; the stubborn man Fenra helps as a patient and slowly befriends. But there is also Xandra- the brilliant, stubborn Practitioner who believes he can never be wrong and knows better than anyone else, and who Fenra is pretty sure she's glad she never met. How did Xandra become friends with the levelheaded and loyal Elva? Elva is a case of someone who seems a completely open book, what you see is what you get. But watching the other characters develop makes you wonder what more of Elva's layers are.  We don't get to see them all here, but maybe in the future? Along with maybe more than the hint of romance we get here? Then there's the Godstone itself- a sentient being on some levels, Xandra on other levels, and something else in between. 

The Godstone doesn't end as a cliff hanger, but there are enough hints of future books that we can hope for a nice long series in this new world of Malan's. So many aspects still to explore, the reader will want to dip back into this world(s) again and again to see what they missed the first time.  

If you haven't read Violette Malan's books yet (Gift of Griffins, Halls of Law, The Sleeping God series), you are missing a master's class in brilliant world building and nuanced characters. The Godstone is another perfect example of Malan's talents.  Fantasy lovers will be thrilled and addicted.

Gift of Griffins

Gift of Griffins- V.M. Escalada
DAW/Penguin Group
Release Date: August 7, 2018

Rating:
📚📚📚📚📚

Warning: Potential Spoilers Ahead!

Synopsis: Kerida Nast and her companions have succeeded in finding Jerek Brightwing, the new Luqs of Farama, and uniting him with a part of his Battle Wings, but not all their problems have been solved. Farama is still in the hands of the Halian invaders and their Shekayrin, and it's going to take magical as well as military strength to overcome them. 

Unexpected help comes from Bakura, the Princess Imperial of the Halians, whose Gifts have been suppressed.  As the Voice of her brother the Sky Emperor she has some political power over the Halian military, and she will use it to aid the Faramans, if Kerida can free her from what she sees as a prison. But whether Kerida can help the princess remains to be seen. If she succeeds, Bakura may prove their salvation. But should Kerida fail, all may be lost....

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In Gift of Griffins V. M. Escalada continues to show her talent in world building, weaving together well crafted characters and a beautifully textured, intricate, magically real world. You feel the wind in your face and the ground beneath your feet.  Her characters continue to be entirely believable- imperfect people in a far from perfect world, learning what they are capable of in overwhelming circumstances.  Kerida Nast and the Princess Imperial Bakura are especially well-written- watching them grow into strong, confident women who are willing to stand up to adversity even when they are terrified made it easy to forget how young they are in pure years.  They have had to grow up quickly and are the equal to any of the more experienced adults by the end of the book.

Unlike many second books in a series, Griffins didn't disappoint after Escalada's amazing first book, Halls of Law.  The emphasis has shifted from mere personal survival to the overthrowing of the Shekayrin determined to control the people, but the story is still told through the personal experiences of a few people.  We also got to see a lot more of the griffins here than in Halls, which was a lot of fun.  I thought Escalada did a great job giving us a griffin's point of view of things, and having the griffins and their way of thinking and prioritizing being very different from that of humans.  I also appreciated how nuanced the motivations among the humans themselves were- we don't get a generalized 'good' versus 'evil', but layers of loyalty and betrayal that will keep the reader guessing until the very end.    

Gift of Griffins is a must read for fantasy lovers looking for a new series to enjoy. You may first be drawn to Griffins because of the beautiful cover art, but you'll stay immersed in this wonderful fantasy world thanks to Escalada's beautiful writing style and amazing characters.  I hope to see many more books to come in this series!

 I would recommend starting with Halls of Law, since Gift of Griffins is very much a sequel instead of a stand alone book.

Halls of Law

Halls of Law- V.M. Escalada
DAW
Release Date: August 1, 2017

Rating:
📚📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: Seventeen-year-old Kerida Nast has always wanted a career in the military, just like the rest of her family. So when her Talent is discovered, and she knows she'll have to spend the rest of her life as a psychic for the Halls of Law, Ker isn't happy about it. Anyone entering the Halls must give up all personal connection with the outside world, losing their family and friends permanently. 

But just as Kerida is beginning to reconcile herself to her new role, the Faraman Polity is invaded by strangers from Halia, who begin a systematic campaign of destruction against the Halls, killing every last Talent they can find.

Kerida manages to escape, falling in with Tel Cursar, a young soldier fleeing the battle, which saw the deaths of the royal family. Having no obvious heir to the throne, no new ruler to rally behind, the military leaders will be divided, unable to act quickly enough to save the empire. And with the Halls being burned to the ground, and the Talents slaughtered, the Rule of Law will be shattered.

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Halls of Law begins a thrilling new series by V.M. Escalada.  Invasion is tearing apart the Faraman Polity, the royal family is dead, the military scattered and trying to decide who they should take orders from.  The Talents, who have always served Faraman as agents of the law, are being killed- their Halls burned, their powers outlawed, and any suspected of helping them killed alongside them.  Kerida Nast escapes the destruction of her Hall and joins young soldier Tel Cursar in journeying to a remaining military outpost.  But on the way they become a part of a far larger plan, one that might save not only their own lives, but their entire world.

Book One in the Faraman Prophecy skillfully creates and shatters an established world, leaving the survivors to find their way in the wreckage.  Escalada has a talent for world building while at the same time not explaining the world as if to an outsider.  The reader is immersed in a new world, one whose sights, scents, and sounds are as organic as the people who populate it.  All of the characters, especially Kerida, are multidimensional and complex. They have their strengths and weaknesses, their talents and blindspots.  Escalada is excellent at making sure none of her characters is fully "just" one thing or another.  Just when you are sure you can classify all the invaders as "evil"- and my skin crawled with some of the scenes when the invader mages "purify" and "pacify" locals- you find some level of sympathy, or at least humanity, in the main enemy as embodied in Shekayrin Svann.  There are Faraman men on willing to join the invader Halians without considering what that means for their world, particularly the women, and then right at the end Escalada gives a surprise twist among the Halians that promises more complications, uneasy alliances, and gray areas to come in Book Two.  

Halls is a fast-paces, intense, and absorbing story and I was sorry when I reached the end and had to leave it and the characters I'd come to know and love behind. I loved how we learned things through the characters, not ahead of them, and that those characters were not the leaders but more of the 'everyday' or lower level people dealing with the upheaval after it happens.    

V.M. Escalada creates a world of swords and magic, griffons and soldiers, heroes and everyday people trying to get along, harsh difficulties and the warmth of friends becoming family.  Readers who enjoyed Class Moss' From Unseen Fire, David Weber's Honor Harrington series, and Mercedes Lackey's world of Valdemar, will love the new world of Halls of Law and be waiting eagerly for the next book in the series (Gift of Griffins, release date August 7, 2018).