Wednesday, August 19, 2020

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Empress of Xytae by Effie Calvin


The Empress of Xytae is the fourth book in Effie Calvin's Tales of Inthya series of queer (F-F) fantasy romance novels.  I really really enjoyed the first two novels in the series ("The Queen of Ieflaria" and "Daughter of the Sun" -  reviewed here and here) which were really lovely and enjoyable short fantasy romance novels.  They're were entirely PG romance novels (no sex scenes on page) but again they were extremely sweet to read as their pairings of opposite temperaments grew to love each other in a fantasy world filled with magical creatures and meddling gods.  The third novel ("The Queen of Rhodia") was still sweet and enjoyable even if it dropped the romance a bit, as it returned to the couple from the first book, but I was excited to read the book summary for this fourth book which promised a return to a more romance-centered plot.

And well, The Empress of Xytae is indeed that, with a really adorable romance between two new young woman characters (one had previously appeared as a child in book 2), but the story seemed a bit derailed by Calvin trying to move long term series plot threads forward.  I shouldn't sound too negative really, if you liked the first three novels - and I did! - then you'll enjoy this one, and the romance between our two main characters here is up there with any of the previous pairings in the series.  But the ending did put me off a little bit, even if it is happy as usual.

------------------------------------------------Plot Summary---------------------------------------------------
The Empire of Xytae has for generations been a country devoted to the following of Reygmadra - Goddess of Warfare and Eighth of the Ten (the ten most powerful gods in Inthya).  It thus stunned everyone when Ioanna, the Emperor's first child, and his supposed heir, was born with the Blessing not of Regymadra, but Iolar, the God of Law - and not just any blessing, but a powerful one which gifted her the rare gift of truthsaying.  Ioanna's gift, and her peaceful bookish temperament, have made her a bit of an outcast in the royal family for the 20 years of her life and have left her lonely and alone.

But when her father dies, Ioanna finds herself on the run when her younger sister - armed with Reygmadra's blessing - attempts to take the throne for herself.  But to her surprise, Ioanna finds herself not alone, but with Vitaliya, a princess from the neighboring nation of Vesolda, as she runs for her life to the only person who might be able to help her.  As they flee, Ioanna - peaceful, bookish, and good natured - finds herself drawn to Vitaliya and her energetic outgoing ways.  But the Ioanna's sister is supported by Reygmadra and other subordinate and powerful gods, and her newfound love for another could wind up putting them both at risk.....
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The Empress of Xytae takes a bit of a time jump from the prior three novels, which all took place within a span of about a year and a half (and featured Ioanna in a minor role as a 7 year old), by jumping forward 12-13 years to when Ioanna is a grown young woman.  At the same time, the time jump doesn't change much about how Calvin tells the story: like the prior books, the story is told from two alternating point of views - Ioanna and Vitaliya - who are both halves of the book's romantic couple.  Like the first two books, both characters are essentially thrown together by fate, and as time moves on they grow closer together, even if their characters at first seem more contrary than anything.

And there's a reason Calvin returns to that formula here - because she's extremely good with it, and it results in another pair of strong characters with an excellent romance, even if those characters are often takes on some pretty classic tropes.  So you have Ioanna, the peaceful royal in a warlike royal family, whose sheltered life has also prevented her from seeing the misery in her empire, who feels an obligation towards her empire but doesn't know what to do about it - and whose peaceful nature has resulted in profound loneliness.  And you have Vitaliya, the younger princess who ran away essentially from her family in outrage at her father remarrying for love only a few years after her mother passed away, who is outgoing and accustomed to getting her hands dirty among the common people.  In a way it reminds one of the original couple in this series - duty bound Princess Esofi and free spirit Princess Adale - but it's different - Ioanna isn't obsessed with duty like Esofi, she just cares about her people and can't leave them behind, and while Vitaliya has doubts about her own self worth like Adale, she's far more proactive about helping people: she just doesn't see herself as a ruler.

And when you put the two together, their contrasts and immediate friendship makes it really easy to see how they could be drawn towards one another, to the point where sparks fly midway through in the closest the series has to a sex scene (well, a fade to black right before a sex scene).  Honestly this is perhaps Calvin's best job in this series in terms of showcasing how two people grew closer and closer together and how that's a struggle in the context they're in - and without any deception really between them for once (Ioanna hides her truthsayer gift, but that's not the same thing).  It works really well.

Which is why it's a disappointment to see how this story ends, with what feels like deus ex machina after deus ex machina to ruin much of the characters' agency.  As a series with a heavy involvement in gods, there has always been at least a little bit of deus ex machina involved in each prior book, but it's turned up to 11 here, with a major conflict resolved basically due to a god interfering in a way that has never been hinted about previously.  Moreover, said god's actions essentially are speculated to be behind all the emotional connections seen on page and off page in this novel, which like I mentioned kind of ruins some of the romance by removing some of the agency and free will of the characters.  All of this basically serves to set up another tease for what is clearly going to be this series' endgame, but honestly, the series has made me care a lot less about that than about the characters' and their happy endings - and nearly all of those characters are humans, not gods.  And the one god who I do care about - Aelia/Elyne (book 2's co-protagonist) - shows up here again but acts somewhat out of character, which only makes it a bit more distracting.*

Spoiler in ROT13:  Nryvn abg haqrefgnaqvat ubj gb unaqyr uhzna rzbgvbaf fgvyy?  Fher, gung'f va punenpgre.  Nryvn npphfvat FBZRBAR RYFR bs orvat frysvfu naq fynccvat gurz?  Lrnu gung qbrfa'g svg irel jryy.  Nryvn zrzbel jvcvat Vbnaan gb erzbir ure xabjyrqtr bs gur jbeq "Bhgfvqref?"  Gung RFCRPVNYYL qbrfa'g svg, fvapr vg fhttrfgf Nryvn univat n terngre pner nobhg gur vffhrf bs gur Tbqf guna fur'f rire unq orsber - naq url, znlor fur'f punatrq va gung ertneq bire gur 12 lrne gvzr fxvc, ohg gur obbx qbrfa'g rfgnoyvfu gung, fb vg'f xvaq bs jrveq gung Nryvn jbhyq npg yvxr gur Gra'f pnerf nobhg gur Bhgfvqref znggre gb ure va gung zbzrag. 

So yeah, this is still a very solid and fun romance, just one whose ending detracted from all that came before.  Hopefully the final two books in this series - assuming Calvin sticks to her plan of a six book series and doesn't expand it - better manages the juggling of the developing mytharc and the romance elements which I've really come to care so much about.
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