Monday, June 28, 2021

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: What We Devour by Linsey Miller

 


Full Disclosure:  This book was read as an e-ARC (Advance Reader Copy) obtained via Netgalley from the publisher in advance of the book's release on July 6, 2021 in exchange for a potential review.  I give my word that this did not affect my review in any way - if I felt conflicted in any way, I would simply have declined to review the book.

What We Devour is the latest novel by Linsey Miller, an author known for her dark young adult fantasy novels, such as the Mask of Shadows duology and Belle Revolte.  I've really loved Miller's work, with those three novels featuring protagonists struggling against greedy corrupt systems and governments, systems that benefit the rich, wealthy and those who fit those people's ideas of the status quo.  These books have been filled with fascinating characters (and a ton of LGBTQ representation of all shades) with really strong points of view and with settings that really emphasize some strong themes....in some pretty dark and often bloody fashions.  So yeah I was excited to get a shot at her latest novel early.  

And What We Devour is up there with her best work, and is well well worth your time.  Featuring as a protagonist a young woman, secretly possessing twin magical powers in a world where magic requires sacrifice - of something physical, or something intangible as long as its valuable - it tells a strong story of a world where the well-off make use of and sacrifice those who are less well-off.  In that story comes this protagonist, who at first wanted nothing more than to hide, but who becomes determined to fight for the possibility that she and others can become something more than a tool for others to use, and who is willing to kill and sacrifice all those necessary to create that better world.  It's another winner from Miller, as one should expect at this point. 
--------------------------------------Plot Summary-----------------------------------------------
Ages ago, the godlike Vile and Noble were chased down by humans who had devoured their power, and were banished from the country of Cynlira...but they did not leave the world completely.  Fragments of their power, known as wrights, pop up in humans from time to time - noblewrights bestowing powers of creation, vilewrights the powers of destruction....although both their powers require a sacrifice in order to work.  And the Vile left behind another gift: a Door through which they could one day return....if it is not fed with enough human sacrifices.  

Lorena Adler has a secret - a girl from the poor areas of Cynlira, the Wallows, she is Dualwrought, possessing both a noblewright and a vilewright - a combination only possessed by the Crown who rules Cynlira with an iron fist.  She has hid from authorities for her whole life, afraid of being put to use and of having her power bound, and has made a name for herself in a small town as an undertaker, where she intends to marry her best friend one day in blissful ignominy. 

But then the Heir, a vilewright known for horrible things, comes to her town, and Lorena is forced to reveal herself to save those who have taken her in.  And so Lorena will have to deal with the most powerful people in Cynliria - the Heir and the Crown, monsters who would seemingly do anything for power.  But what the Heir wants for Lorena is to help him seal or destroy the Door, for it is becoming hungrier for more and more sacrifices, forcing Lorena to choose what it is she is willing to sacrifice for a world that forces people like her to hide or be used....and what sacrifice might be too much.   
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What We Devour is set in a world that is fascinating, and arguably is too fascinating for the story that Miller wants to tell - I wanted more, and would love more stories in this world, even if this story is clearly over, as there's a lot here that goes unused, even if none of it feels extraneous.  You have a system of government that is supposedly half noble and half-common voted, but of course, the rich and powerful control each spot.  You have magic-wielders whose magic is somewhat sentient and hungry, and requires sacrifices of body or of intangible things like someone's memories, senses, or feelings in order to create or destroy - magic that is thus usually wielding in contract form, with a giving up of something in exchange for something else.  You have bindings by the nobles on those magic wielders (except for our protagonist) that prevent them from using their powers in certain "dangerous" ways.  You have curses left behind by the Noble and Vile, which prevent someone from dying (and can be hereditary) unless they fulfill their particular curse, which of course can be just as bad as or the same as dying themselves.  There's a LOT in this setting, and its all fascinating, and not all of it is explored here since there isn't enough time to do so.  

What there is time for is Lorena's story, which is fascinating enough to make it all worth it.  Lorena is a girl who grew up in the slums with a mother who worked for a Peer (the nobles) in a dangerous factory, who desperately tried to keep her mother alive for years until the end.  She was taught by her mom to hide, for fear of what the nobles would do to bind her and what they would use her for, and so she has hidden herself her whole life, even taking a job in a small town as an undertaker because it was a job that would make her feel needed, while at the same time was distasteful enough to make people not want to ask more of her.  She has a relationship with Julian, the son of the noble in charge of the town, but he's more her best friend than anything, with her not really feeling love for him, but going along with his plan for marriage just because it's the thing to do (per the author, Lorena is meant to be Ace, and you definitely can tell she's aromantic at the very least).  

And yet when thrown into the spotlight by the Heir, and by the abuse of the Crown, Lorena doesn't simply try to go back to hiding, but instead determinedly takes a stand to try and change things.  She hid all those years out of a fear of being used, and now that hiding is impossible, for Lorena, the goal is now to change the world so that people will not be valued solely for their use to others, but for their own wants and desires instead.  And as Lorena sees more of what the nobles have done, even the nobles whose son she was supposed to marry into, she realizes that her goal cannot be obtained with the system intact, and that she'll have to get herself incredibly bloody, and to sacrifice far more than she'd like, in order to break down that system.  

It makes her a fascinating character who drives this book, which is good because the side characters really aren't that memorable.  The cast that Lorena surrounds herself with are built well enough to work for the most part, but none of them are that special, even as I did like them a bit.  To the extent I cared what happened to those others, it was because of the impact their deaths might have on Lorena, not for themselves.  And one of the side characters, Lorena's fiancé Julian, is such an ass really it's hard to see why she might've once considered him her best friend or felt so betrayed by his own actions over the course of the book.

Still the plot of this one is super impressive at times, driven by Lorena's tremendous intelligence, drive, and voice, and swerves in a number of ways that will surprise readers.  If you couldn't tell from the above, it's a plot deeply involved with the questions of sacrifice, of class, of people's worth, of what is valuable, etc., and it weaves these themes together really really well.  It all ends up in an ending that works fairly well at ending this story in bloody fashion, as Lorena drives herself to make what she believes will be the ultimate sacrifice, only for that to turn out to be something far harsher than she could have imagined, but also something far more fitting.  

I'm not sure if this is my favorite of Miller's short but already super impressive list of work, but it's well up there with all that she's written and it's a really strong addition to the genre.  Recommended. 

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