This book has changed my mind.
I'm actually a little grateful because now I have this whole list of books to start making my way through and that's great because something will have to distract me while I impatiently wait for news of the next book. (My guess is duology, based on what I've seen but I could see this working as a series, focusing on other members of Nym's family, maybe. Either way, in my search I signed up for Holmberg's newsletter and found out about a kickstarter coming up this summer, which I've set to notify me on launch when it goes live.)
The plot is somewhat straightforward, exactly as given in the synopsis. Nym Tallowax is a healer, the eldest of her siblings and their main source of income, who has spent the last 8 years keeping her family together and afloat since the loss of their parents. A letter summons her to the castle and Nym is forced into trying to do what others have not managed and heal the broken and ailing second born son of the king. Nym managed to make one small fix and is now being forced into serving the prince as his personal healer, leaving her family to fend for themselves. All the while, the country is drafting men in preparation for a possible war.
In terms of the story itself, I still have so many questions, but that's a good thing because it is practically guaranteed that I will be back for book 2. In fact, I have this book added to a list of physical books to preorder when I have the means to do so, that way this book can live on a shelf with other favorite fantasies. I was intrigued from the start with the idea of craftlock, which is what Nym's healing is referred to as, with mentions of two other specialties being mindreading and soulbinding. Craftlock itself is meant to be illegal in Cansere, Nym's home, and is punishable by death, but healing is allowed because the queen is desperately trying to find someone to fix her son.
I wanted to know more about the way her magic worked and I wanted Nym to get back to her family after feeling the unfairness of not only having her eldest brother drafted to the army but then essentially being forced to report to the royal family to see if she could heal Prince Renn. It was such a great hook for me, playing on the heartstrings and making me angry for a young woman who is just trying her hardest to live her life the best she can with what she has.
Add in a mysterious illness keeping the prince from ever truly being whole and it's all a well-oiled storyline. The writing keeps the story flowing smoothly, giving enough information to keep the reader guessing. Some of my theories didn't pan out, others did, and I was happy with each reveal and development. Nym's point of view never gets tiresome, despite how long the first quarter of the story felt (there is only so much inhumane treatment of our lead I can take before it wears on my heart too much).
In terms of characters, Nym is a well-rounded character, strong, stubborn and intelligent enough to reason her way through most things that come at her. I appreciated her backstory, the tragedy that has shaped her, and felt particular heartbreaks were treated with respect enough that it felt natural in the reveals and the progression of the story. Nothing seemed too much or out of place, although her stubbornness could be a little frustrating but it's par for the course of a story like this. The main character can't be too perfect, after all.
The book's second lead, Prince Renn, started out as what one would expect from a member of royalty, spoiled and demanding, until Nym arrives to set him straight. In fact, he kind of reminded me of Colin from A Secret Garden, as a recluse in the castle with a mysterious ailment who eventually, with the influence of friends, gains physical strength and independence. The two of them, Nym and Renn, paired together were the right balance for a slow-burn romance that will hopefully be more realized in the next installment. I liked how it was shown that Renn was changing for the better, with the things he changed for Nym in the castle, and the way he pushed back against his overbearing mother and stood up to his bullying big brother. Changes like this work best with actions and every change in Renn felt well-earned.
The side characters are all mostly well-developed, with the main focus being on Nym's family and Renn's family, including his guards, with enough detail to make their pains and struggles come across as losses to the reader. They may not have been on the page the majority of the time, but I do feel like we got to know them all well enough, which shows Holmberg's talent as a writer.
This makes me want to point out the magic system. I read the Acknowledgements page and thought it was a brilliant idea for Holmberg to set a challenge to create a magic system that seemed familiar and yet wholly unique to the story. I remember being similarly impressed with the magic in The Paper Magician series (that paper heart is something I can still remember this many years later), so it did not surprise me that one of this book's strongest assets is it's magic system. The idea of the lumie was just complex enough to keep readers engaged and the fact that each person's lumis has a different form made it easy to see just how imaginative Holmberg has managed to make this story. There have been similar ideas done before, I'm sure, but this stands apart for me, and as a result, it makes me that much more determined to read more books from Holmberg in the near future.
The setting is a little vague, enough for readers to fill in as the story goes on. We know the story takes place in Cansere, and that the neighboring kingdom, Sesta, has decided to start attacking the country's borders. There have been attempts to talk to the leader of Sesta, but nothing has come forth from that. As a result, Cansere has started drafting men into their army in preparation to defend themselves. The talks of war are circling around the castle, mentioned by other characters as a threat always in the backs of their minds, just out of arm's reach in a way. By the end, it culminates in a cliffhanger that makes me hope that book 2 was a little closer to being published than I think it is.
If I had to say there was anything weak about the book, I might say the pacing was too vague in the sense that I lost track of how much time Nym had been in the castle. There are mentions to changes in seasons and a certain number of weeks having gone by, but it wasn't enough to keep the timeline straight. The story focuses a lot on the day to day of Nym trying over and over to make enough healing changes to Renn, and how Renn uses those improvements to change himself by learning to fight and going out of the castle to explore, that it all kind of blends together until something comes up, usually a social event to show the characters in a different setting and around new people. Not really a disadvantage to the story, but it couldn't hurt to have some more specifics thrown in now and then. When the conflict reared up and set the last few pieces of the story in motion, I remembered the line about Spring, the season, when it was brought up but not enough to really feel the tension of the unexpected coming sooner than the characters thought it would happen. It was what I knew was coming, the WAY it happened was jarring, but I didn't remember what time of year they were in, only that it was still snowing outside, and that was about it.
In the end, this book was exactly what I wanted to read, a fantasy with a slow burn romance and a new and unique magic structure. I greatly enjoyed the experience and plan to read the book again when I have the chance. Read this book if you want something like V.E. Schwab and Diana Wynne Jones, mixed together.
Rating: I'm making this 10 Stars because I'm hoping the next one is everything I want to finish the story, with a resolution that makes me feel like wow, okay, let's go back to the beginning and read it again, and then I lose track of how many times I've read these books in the years to come. Fingers crossed.
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