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 January 18, 2022 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.
Servant Mage by Kate Elliott:
Servant Mage is the latest novella by Kate Elliott, one of my favorite scifi/fantasy authors. I will basically read anything new by Elliott at this point, and she has nearly always justified that decision - Elliott's books/novellas/short work features tremendous characters, really interesting themes and worlds that are highly imaginative and creative in very different ways.
Servant Mage, announced originally a while back as "Lamplighter" and as part of a new series of novellas, is yet another winner, and one that promises some really interesting stuff to come. It deals with some themes that are very familiar in Elliott's work - namely the theme of power, and how charismatic ambitious people of power may not really have the people's best interests at heart - as an indentured mage finds herself rescued by a man working to restore a monarchy, as part of a group of mages fighting for freedom. Some really interesting stuff both here, and in how this sets up a potential sequel.
Quick Plot Summary: Fellian is a Lamplighter, a fire mage of a kind most known for their ability to create magical lamps for illumination. She's also a Servant Mage, forced into an asylum at a young age and then indentured out for service to one willing to pay to use her limited skills. And with the Liberationist government in power, there is no chance of her getting free of her indenture. It is not a life Fellian enjoys, as she misses her long lost family, but she makes the most of it by covertly teaching poor commoners how to read and write.
But then Fellan is rescued from her indentured by an adept mage, a skilled and trained aether mage who supports the monarchist resistance, she finds herself part of a quiver of mages - fire, earth, water, air, and aether - embarking on a quest to save a child born with all five elements. But as Fellian is dragged along on this quest to save a mere baby, she sees that her would be rescuers don't quite understand her much better than the liberationists, and that her own destiny may lie upon a third path....if she can survive long enough to choose it..
Thoughts: That's a lot longer plot summary than I usually give novellas, but I couldn't find a way to explain this one without going deeper. So yeah, this is a really strong novella from Elliott, introducing a world where there was once a monarchist empire (whose rulers were children with magical powers of all elements) that, in a moment of weakness, was overthrown by a "liberationist" one that supposedly promised a freedom from corrupt nobility....which is just as corrupt an evil as the monarchists supposedly were.
And so you have Fellian, a really strong lead character, who understands that neither government is really good, or serves her interests, because neither wants to help the poor common people. Throughout this novella, as Fellian gets involved in the conflict unwillingly, she sees that her new rescuers have as little interest in helping people, or in how the common people have suffered, or even in avoiding causing more harm through their actions. They just blame it all on the other faction, even when they had the possibility of doing less harm. And so Fellian constantly refuses to stay silent, to stay her mouth from questioning her new "leader", and from making her own final decision.
It's a really imaginative world with very familiar but strong power dynamics, and Fellian is a terrific character to root for in it. And it ends up in a very interesting place that promises some real interesting events to come next, as Fellian makes a very different choice than many other characters would make, and I really look forward to seeing what becomes of her next.
No comments:
Post a Comment