Starred review from April 7, 2008
Stunningly conceived and exquisitely achieved, this rich historical fantasy portrays the Elizabethan court 30 years into the reign of the Virgin Queen, often called Gloriana. Far below ground, her dark counterpart, heartless Invidiana, rules England's fae. Brennan (Warrior and Witch
) pairs handsome young courtier Michael Deven, an aspiring agent under spymaster Sir Francis Walsingham, with bewitching fae Lune, who attempts to avoid Invidiana's wrath by infiltrating Walsingham's network in mortal guise. History and fantasy blend seamlessly as Deven and Lune tread their precarious tightropes between loyalty and betrayal. Brennan's myriad fantastical creations ring as true as her ear for Elizabethan and faerie dialogue. With intriguing flashbacks to historical events and a cast of deftly drawn characters both real and imagined, Brennan fleshes out the primal conflict of love and honor pitted against raging ambition and lust for power in a glittering age when mortals could well be such fools as to sell their souls forever.
June 15, 2008
Princess Elizabeth allies with Invidiana, aspiring fairy queen, a partnership that allows both to gain their thrones in parallel Englands. Thirty years later, Michael Devan seeks to rise to the rank of gentleman among the mortals. Resolved to regain the status she lost among the fairies for ceding too much to defeat the Spanish Armada, Lady Lune returns to the mortal court to spy on English spymaster Sir Francis Walsingham, who is also Devan's master. Lune takes the form of Anne Montrose, Devan's fiancée, while he searches for the "hidden player" taking a role in mortal politics. But will their love survive the deception and their conflicting duties to both realms? A deft blending of Elizabethan court intrigue and high fantasy, this debut novel will appeal to fans of Sarah Hoyt's "Ill Met by Moonlight and All Night Awake". However, unlike Hoyt's works or Elizabeth Bear's forthcoming Elizabethan fantasies "Ink and Steel" (see review above) and "Hell and Earth", which focus on Marlowe and Shakespeare, Brennan eschews making already-famous figures the protagonists. Instead, she foregrounds the fantasy aspect of alternate history by following original characters as they are pulled into great events and forced to grow into their difficult choices.Meredith Schwartz, New York
Copyright 2008 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.