This is the fantasy equivalent of “And Then There Were None.” There is MUCH to talk about below the spoiler cut, to the point where there will be LAYERS of spoiler space.
The land of Concordia is based off twelve animals/tribes/territories (and one exiled thirteenth tribe that rebelled and is now shut out), all brought together. Supposedly. Per each land, one person is Blessed with a magical power and they will run their lands. The Blessed heirs are to go on a 12 day boat ride together and then make a pilgrimage to a mountain before they inherit.
Our narrator, Ganymedes “Dee” Piscero, is the heir to the lowest ranked land, Fish. He’s a bisexual, food-loving, living embodiment of the Fool card in tarot (especially in his very shiny outfit, designed to upset everyone). He’s also been forced to keep the secret that he did NOT inherit a Blessing, something that has made him feel like shit since his teen years. After he’s forced to board the ship, Dee starts working on his plan to get kicked out of the group, hopefully meaning that he can get out of this situation.
However, someone else has A Plan, which involves killing off all the other Blessed. The first death of the future Empress is horrifying (also in the few minutes that you meet her, you like her), and it just gets worse from there. It also looks like someone’s figured out how to deactivate someone’s Blessing, which leads to several deaths. One death in particular really hits Dee hard, and motivates him to find who’s doing it. Also motivating Dee is insta-befriending Grasshopper, the 6-year-old Blessed, and swearing to protect her no matter what. Grasshopper clearly needs some love and it’s an insta-pairing of AWWWWWW throughout the book. Another surprising pairing for Dee is hitting it off with Wyatt, the Bear Blessed who has some kind of mystery illness he won’t elaborate on. Even though Dee is still really in pain from his previous relationship, Dee seems to insta-attach to other misfits, especially ones that care about him.
Of course the other suspects/victims have varying levels of mysteries and issues. Was Leofric as loyal to his Empress as he claims to be? What does Shinjino the monk think is the overall plan of the murderer? What does Nergui the Spider know? And why does the ship seem to have ghost sightings periodically? Some Blessed are cranky loner types that just want to be left alone. Jasper is VERY STRESSED that magic is going to poop out and the thirteenth tribe will break into Concordia. Cordelia is in HEAVY mourning for her beloved brother Lysander. There’s lots of good suspect material here. It’s also a challenge when culturally people do not want to reveal what their Blessing is.
(One note before I go into heavy spoiler space, because it’s the sort of thing that gave me major squick: bodily dismemberment becomes a frequent plot point towards the end. I’m still squicking, actually. My least favorite thing in the book.)
Everyone thinks Dee is powerless (politically, even if they don’t know he isn’t magically), lowest rank, useless to everyone, and a total fool. But Dee is a genuinely good hearted dude, which seems to be rare in this world. He’s also smarter than he comes off as–at one point he’s dubbed a “moronic genius,” and one has to agree even if you don’t think he’s a moron. Dee has felt like crap his entire life–I REALLY RELATE TO THIS–thanks to his shitty father, and the book is about how he learns to rise above that and see his own worth, and not just through the eyes of others who care about him, either.
Beyond that, I think that’s as much as I can say to set up the book before the spoiler cut. Overall, I think it is VERY well done, even if I do think one particular plot element covered in the spoiler cut is… well, I have Concerns on that topic. I’m giving it 4.5 stars, as it is near epic territory in its own way. You like mystery? You like gay romance? You like um, weird romance? This may be the book for you!
So the spoiler territory IS GONNA BE INTERESTING HERE. I’m gonna divide them into two sections: Relationships and Murderers.
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Spoiler space level 1: Relationships
So Dee has been off-and-on(?) involved with Ravi, the Crow Blessed, since his teen years. Unfortunately, Ravi is now giving Dee the extreme cold shoulder AND gotten engaged to Cordelia, and won’t even look at Dee any more. When Dee goes to him for help, Ravi refuses…and then is murdered.
Pretty quickly after that, Dee falls in love with Wyatt, who upon the death of his crush, immediately goes for Dee as well. This is both very sweet and cute and yet at the same time you’re all, “whatever happened to your undying love for Ravi? This seems really fast since the guy just died a few days ago.” Not to mention that some folks start indicating to Dee that they have some weird vibe, more or less, about Wyatt. An empath tells him that Wyatt has contempt for everyone BUT Dee and Grasshopper. Wyatt also seems to be kind of freaked out by Shinjino, and later Shinjino seems to be getting less cool/calm/collected.
So what’s the deal?.... Ravi’s Blessing is bodily impersonation, and when he found Wyatt dead of natural causes, faked his own death and took over playing Wyatt. So when Dee finds out the truth, it’s (kinda?) all True Love! We’re reunited! And Ravi is all, “here’s all the super weird shit that’s been going on that means I had to cut you off, and oh yeah, I’ve been in league with murderers, but I still love you, Dee!”
Two things here: it’s one thing to find out your true love is alive, and I guess it would seem like a nice transfer of feelings from one to the other, but you’d think Dee would be…more weirded out by all of this? I sure would be. Also, even worse, a fellow we’ve been told was SUPER tender hearted is now in league with murderers, albeit he seems to have the secret goal of working against them…but, y’know, also gets into a bit of murder.
I’d be a little askance at getting romantically involved with this dude again, is what I am saying. Like I’m happy for y’all, but some shit has just gotten REAL WEIRD in this relationship. It kind of buzzkills the HEA for me when this level of weird has gone on? Is Ravi a safe person to date at this point? I’m truly not sure and while I believe in his love for Dee, and that he wants to make amends, I’d be concerned at what Ravi might get up to in the future if he felt like he had to get up to something.
This review and this one also point out the creepy weird issues with this.
Spoiler space level 2: Murderers
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As previously mentioned in spoiler space 1, Ravi’s in league, roughly speaking, with the bad guys. I do think who it is and why they are doing it, and especially what their ultimate “I’m gonna take over the WORLD and induce basically a bunch of death and anarchy!” goal is very well done. (Shinjiro wasn’t off on what he suspected.) Someone does have the ability to shut off Blessings, and they are aware of what happens when a Blessing is transferred to someone else without a direct heir, which is where it gets *real* interesting.
I’m actually not gonna spoil who the mastermind is here, though it’s an interesting choice that that person gets away, leaving an open space if there’s a sequel, I guess. I’m not sure if there should be one or not since I think the book wraps up very well as is, with an empowered Dee–both magically and mentally–working towards good.
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