SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Give Way to Night by Cass Morris

 

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Give Way to Night by Cass Morris: https://t.co/TgjqPhdctZ

Short Review: 7 out of 10
1/3

— Josh (garik16) (@garik16) February 26, 2021

Short Review (cont): The 2nd in this series featuring a magic-filled version of the Roman Republic (on verge of Empire) is at times really good with its two mage main characters struggling for progressive change...but other times infuriating especially the cliffhanger ending.
2/3

— Josh (garik16) (@garik16) February 26, 2021

Give Way to Night is the second book in Cass Morris' Aven Cycle, a series featuring a magic filled alternate version of Ancient Rome that began in 2018 with her novel, From Unseen Fire (which I reviewed here).  The Aven Cycle's ancient Rome ("Aven") features the addition of magic and takes place shortly after the death of a monstrous Dictator almost strangles the republic and leaves things in a state of flux.  The series deals with issues such as conservative vs progressive views, and of misogyny and roles of men vs women, but one thing it does not really deal with as you might expect are the problems of Empire - like well, Rome - and colonization/imperialism.  Aven is very much Rome, with slaves, conquered lands, etc., and the series isn't interested in exploring all of the implications of that, instead focusing upon its own story with that in the background.  

Give Way to Night does so by splitting our main duo of characters - powerful fire and spirit mage Latona who is learning to take the city's general welfare into her own hands and secret shadow and water mage Sempronius who seeks to rise up to power in Aven to change things for the better.  The result is that the story essentially features two equal plots - on in Aven itself, and one on the warfront of Iberia - unlike the first book which featured the Iberia front as a sideplot that didn't quite feel as important as the rest of it all.  Both of its main characters and the setting are compelling, as our many of the side characters whose views we get to see, but not only does this book leave major plot threads hanging just like the first book, it ends on an absolutely ridiculous and frustrating cliffhanger that just left me tremendously unsatisfied.

-----------------------------------------------------Plot Summary-----------------------------------------------------
Some time has passed since the events around the last election in Aven, when Latona of the Vitelliae, mage of Fire and Spirit, and Sempronius Tarren, the ambitious politician and secret Water and Shadow mage, faced not only conservative politicians, but a deadly Fracture mage serving the Cult of Discordia and barely managed to save the City.  Now Latona and Sempronius, secretly lovers after a single night of passion, find themselves on the opposite side of the continent - with the newly-minted Praetor Sempronius off to Iberia while Latona remains in the city of Aven.  

But both Sempronius and Latona find no peace in their separate paths:  In Iberia, Sempronius finds himself facing the warmongering Lusetani tribes, who are wielding a deadly and sinister magic based upon blood sacrifice that threatens to overcome even the better trained and larger armies of Aven.  And in Aven, Latona finds that that might not have been the only fracture mage of Discordia present in the City and that others are working together to cause more havoc for an unseen purpose...and that to stop them, she'll have to rely on uncertain allies and her own powers more than ever, even if that threatens to throw her own life into scandal....
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Give Way to Night again focuses upon Latona and Sempronius, although there's the story jumps to other viewpoint characters in their locations from time to time (most notably Sempronius' sister Vibia, who appears on the cover and is the perspective for a lot of Latona's story).  The two have changed a bit in who they are after the events of the first book, particularly Latona, and are now separated and on their own in different adventures which aren't clearly related to one another, but share seemingly equal importance: Sempronius dealing with dark magic in Iberia by foreigners while Latona deals with more dark magic in Aven itself.  

Latona's story is the stronger of the two because of how much the last book and this one drives her to change.  Whereas her defining trait in the first book was often that she was afraid to act out for fear of it not being her place as a woman but still being driven to do just that as much as she can, here she finds herself driven more and more by Sempronius' example to help, even if that could give rise to scandal.  And so, as she, Vibia, and her two sisters Aula and Alhena (who are still excellent characters by the way), find more dangerous fracture magic and signs of Discordia throughout the city, she finds herself deciding she cares less and less about propriety and what people say about her: whether those people be her political rivals, her father, or even her useless husband.  This leads to confrontations with the latter two figures and the results of each will make you cheer Latona on for breaking out of her shell - and what comes out is definitely a story of feminine empowerment against a misogynistic world.  And well the magical parts of her story, along with the build up of Vibia as a woman who loves her brother (Sempronius) and who finds Latona's straightforwardness off-putting at first before realizing it's all as honest and unassuuming as it seems, works really well.  

Still Sempronius' story also works decently well, as he has to gather his legions together to try and handle a terrifying dark magic of the Lusetani chieftain.  His progressive mind allows him to grasp for solutions that others - including his more conservative rival whose perspective we occasionally switch to - would never consider, and he's an easy conqueror (more on that below) to root for.  Other characters in this plotline, such as the Lusetani chieftain's wife - Neitin - who fears the dark magic path they're going on, and Latona's brother Felix - who is just trying to survive long enough for Sempronius to reinforce him work well to flesh things out, but this is mostly Sempronius' plotline to see how he's willing to take progressive steps to solve this dangerous problem. 

Where the book doesn't work as well is in its ending.  A problem I had with its first book was that the book teased big implications of something and then it was left as a cliffhanger, in that case the situation in Iberia.  This book does an even worse version of that, with the situation in Aven with Latona ending on just a brutal cliffhanger after a confrontation the reader will have been waiting for all book finally happens - leaving the reader not just anxious for more, but really unsatisfied with the result.  

The book also continues to ignore the implications of Empire and Colonialism for the most part, with one moment where an Iberian clan leader asks a former Aven slave about his feelings about the empire being the rare exception to that.  And while I'm willing to accept that to a certain extent - okay fine, so slaves are a thing in Rome so they are here for example - it's a hard thing to ignore when one of our heroes is essentially fighting a war of conquest against a native people...even if those native people are going too far.   

So yeah that's Give Way to Night, a story with two really strong lead characters, one of whom is facing a battle for her own empowerment against a male-dominated culture, and the other of whom is progressive and fascinating in his ambition.  There's so much to like here...and so much that drives me bonkers, particularly the ending.  Will I get to book 3 after such an ending?  The answer is probably - especially if it is the finale (not sure), but this is two books now of unsatisfying endings, so it's hard to tell.