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Into the Crooked Place by Alexandra Christo (view source)
Revision as of 12:19, 28 August 2020
, 12:19, 28 August 2020no edit summary
Although this is very much a character-driven story, Christo does a passable job at building the world. The story starts in Creije, one of the largest cities in Uskhanya, and is the current home of all four of the protagonists. The new Doyen of Uskhanya, Fenna Schulze, was elected on the promise of cracking down on the black magic trade. However, the Kingpin of Creije, Dante Ashwood, has other ideas – he plans to take over the entire world by building an army using vials of black magic. Rishiya, the birthplace of the other two protagonists Saxony and Karam, is a realm that seems to take a lot of inspiration from the Indian subcontinent and is home to a Crafter ‘Kin’. Other realms, such as Volo, are mentioned but not expanded upon. Perhaps the setting will get expanded upon in later stories.
The magic in the setting is well-thought out and shows how a world where it is commonplace might look. There are charms, or “tricks”, which are a fairly weak, commonplace form of magic which allow you to do basic things like make you hover or give you good luck or things of that nature. The realms are linked by the Floating Railways, which appear to be a cross between rail travel and air travel, and the hover magic put to an industrial use. Magic is also used as a cheap-and-dirty method of sanitation, however , this is extremely risky because high doses of magic are toxic. And then there is True Magic, which is extremely rare and can only be produced by a race of people known as Crafters, most of whom were either wiped out or went into hiding in a war sixty years prior to the start of the story. This is why the magic produced by Ashwood is so concerning, since it is far more potent than any charm they’ve seen before, suggesting that he’s somehow managed to get his hands on a Crafter.
Overall, this is an interesting dark fantasy story packed with well-written characters who fit together nicely and a thoroughly fleshed-out magic system.
Similar books by other authors:
[[Barnaby Grimes: Curse of the Night Wolf by Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell|The Barnaby Grimes series by Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell]] – a similar, but no less dark, set of stories for younger readers, this time with illustrations. You might also appreciate [[To Kill a Kingdom by Alexandra Christo]].
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