Friday, April 24, 2020

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Queen of Ieflaria by Effie Calvin




The Queen of Ieflaria is the first in a series of short queer fantasy romance novels by Effie Calvin (the series is the Tales of Inthya).  I saw the novels first recommended by a reviewer at the Tor.com website a while back, but as they're published by a small press, my library didn't have a copy at the time.  The series has expanded to 4 books at present, and the NY public library actually has ecopies of the first two, so I put it on reserve - and it came off reserve this week.

And honestly, The Queen of Ieflaria is definitely the type of book I really needed right now, a fun light F-F fantasy romance between a pair of princesses who ostensibly couldn't be more different - one from an uncaring family who believes in doing her duty first and foremost and one from a loving family who were willing to let her as the second child be a wild child hunting and partying.  Oh and did I mention the first princess is a powerful mage and there are dragons threatening the countryside?  The story doesn't spend long on the parts of tropes in romance that tend to annoy me and is light fun throughout, and its hard not to like the two lead characters.  It's not the greatest and deepest romance, but it's definitely something I could've used right now so definitely recommended.

I should note somewhere btw that this isn't the type of romance in which anything explicit is described - the most that's described on page are kisses. So if you're looking for something more steamy this isn't it.  (On the other hand, that also makes it fine for younger readers as well if that's your concern, even if this isn't YA).
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Princess Esofi of Rhodia journeyed to the country of Ieflaria with the anticipation of fulfilling her long awaited marriage contract with Ieflaria's Crown Prince Albion.  As the younger daughter of royalty, Esofi has always known its her duty to fulfill an arranged marriage, but Esofi's letters back and forth with Albion for years have made her hopeful that it will wind up a loving marriage.  And so she set off from Rhodia, together with her three Ladies (well, two Ladies and a trained spy/assassin/problem-solver), and a group of battle mages trained in the magic arts of the goddess Talcia, Goddess of Magic.  Esofi herself is a pious devotee of Talcia and an expert Battle Mage herself, which is important because Ieflaria has suddenly found itself being attacked more and more frequently from angry dragons.

But when Esofi arrives at the palace she finds the unexpected - Albion is dead in an accident, and the country is in mourning.  Knowing her duty, Esofi pledges to still fulfill the marriage contract for her country and marry the next in line for the throne.

But the next in line is Albion's sister, Adale, a wild girl who would rather party and hunt than rule and who never expected to have that responsibility.  Adale cares about her people, far more than her cousins who would be next line after her, but fears that she would be a terrible ruler, with her lack of patience, her wildness, and lack of noble graces.  So she plans at first to run from her duty and from Esofi for her own good and the good of her kingdom.

But when she meets Esofi, she realizes there is far more than meets the eye to the other princess and she just can't bring herself to leave, nevertheless to let Esofi marry one of her spoiled cousins.   And while Adale isn't anything Esofi could have expected, there is something about the girl that intrigues her....assuming Adale is really able to put the needs of the kingdom first.  And assuming the dragon attacks don't destroy any hope of romance or even marriage in the first place.....
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The Queen of Ieflaria features a familiar setup for a romance novel, with the story split between the perspectives of the two protagonists, Esofi and Adale.  You should know going in that, despite their clear differences, the two are going to wind up together and find happiness there, despite all the conflicts in their way.  Again, this shouldn't be a surprise - a romance novel isn't about the ending being a surprise, but the journey and character development along the way.

Fortunately, Calvin is very good with the two characters and the setting, making them come to life really well and making them so easy to care about.  You might think Esofi is going to be the stuck up straight laced princess, albeit one gifted with magical power, but no, she's willing to try and care more for the common people than her own mother would (a subtle conflict that is smartly alluded to but not actually overly explored in the novel) and much of her awkward reactions to Adale and the nonmagical technology focus of Ieflaria comes from surprise and lack of knowledge, not due to her thinking she's better than anyone else necessarily - and to the extent she has that self-belief a little bit, it's easily knocked out of here.

Meanwhile Adale might seem like the wild girl who needs to be taught her responsibilities and that her people need her - I'm reminded of that archetype recently in Tessa Gratton's Lady Hotspur - but unlike the usual version of that character, Adale actually does know what the idea of those responsibilities should be - and her disinterest in actually doing them stems as much from fear for her people as just aloofness.  She cares and the moment she sees Esofi is something she might want and that her parents confront her with the selfishness of her cousins - the rivals for Esofi's hand - she tries to see what she can do to possibly win over Esofi, despite her own serious insecurities making it awkward at best.  Again it makes her easy to love and you always want her to get what's best for her from the beginning.

So your two main characters in this romance are lovely and the romance between them is done really well and is assisted by the really well done setting - especially for such a short book.  We see a contrast in noble opinions in how the kingdoms of Ieflaria and Rhodia apparently work, and how the antagonists' unsuitability comes from mainly their lack of goodwill towards the common people - and how that's an attitude Esofi is a bit too used to.  We also see a world where there are many gods of different types who are very real, but who are worshiped in different ways in such that people can disagree about how that goes - and the gods themselves might kind of laugh at some of those ways but care more about them being well intentioned than anything.

It's also one where when magic disappears, the land turns to technology, as we can easily recognize (but Esofi does not) and perhaps most importantly, it's one where same sex relationships are totally normal, to the point where there is a process for allowing for a temporary change of sex for the purpose of creating heirs - and a permanent change is available for those who are truly trans.  Even one of the antagonist love interests is another young woman, unsuitable due to her attitude more than anything else - although she's not really differentiated from the other antagonist.  And then of course there are the magical creatures - the dragons most in particular, but they're not the only ones - and magic itself, which make this fantasy setting feel alive and different.  All that allows the wonderful romance to take place in a world that feels real even as the book just isn't very long.

This isn't the best romance or fantasy romance I've ever read, but as I note above, it's really a lovely and well done one that is a great read for someone who needs something enjoyable with some fun characters.  Recommended.
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