Starred review from June 23, 2014
Berg returns to Sanctuary (most recently depicted in Flesh and Spirit) for this captivating and satisfying fantasy epic, the first of a pair. Lucian de Remeni-Masson, a young pureblood sorcerer and a child of privilege, loses his family and fortune as the Kingdom of Navronne reels from a fratricidal civil war. The action truly takes off once Lucian is forced into the service of Bastien de Caton, the coroner of Palinur, and begins using his magical capabilities to identify the unnamed dead. With an impressive command of language, sure-handed plotting, and perceptive characterizations, Berg traces the arc of Lucian’s arduous quest to solve the murders of several illegitimate royals. Lucian constantly appears on the verge of failure, but Berg deftly displays his psychological development and convincingly paves the way for him to earn his escape through self-knowledge and self-sacrifice.
July 1, 2014
A youthful indiscretion has come back to haunt pureblood Lucian de Remeni-Masson. His contract with the Registry has been canceled, and he is offered a degrading new one with the city coroner, Bastien. With a young sister to support, Lucian has to accept, and Bastien sets him to drawing unidentified corpses in hopes of finding their next of kin (and perhaps a reward). But Lucian's magical talent to paint things as they truly are also gets him involved with a political conspiracy when he and Bastien discover that the royal family's illegitimate offspring are being killed and dumped in the city slums. VERDICT Berg drops readers into her fantasy world, the same one as her Lighthouse duology, without much explication. Luckily the author is talented enough to create a narrative that will pull in even those unfamiliar with the previous books. Lucian has a great character arc; he emerges from a privileged youth who suffered a great personal loss to become someone who's determined to find the truth.
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