A thief, a wizard and a prince studiously avoid walking into a bar. Not the setup to a joke, but the basis of this thoroughly enjoyable fantasy novel. Aaron, our thief, gets caught trying to steal the royal emerald but saved by the prince, Darvish. They are both then sent on a quest to recover a magic stone that stops the volcano that the city is built on from rising up and swallowing it whole. En route, they team up with Chandra, the wizard and Darvish’s unwilling political fiancé. It’s a good, old fashioned quest, with added alcoholism (hence the studiously avoiding the bar) and a burgeoning romance between Aaron and Darvish.
Chandra is a very powerful wizard, but she’s also a sixteen year old girl, with all the turbulent emotions that come with that. She hides behind her status as a “Wizard of the Nine”, using arrogance as a mask for her fear and pain. Aaron is the son of a clan chief, fleeing his own pain by locking his emotions tight, and fighting the internalised homophobia of his ancestral religion. Darvish is the third son of the king, with no power and no position at court. He drinks to take the edge off his own pain. And together this motley D&D-style adventuring party fight crime steal (back) jewellery and figure out their emotions.
The story moves at a good pace and the protagonists are (mostly) sympathetic. I’m pleased that I figured out who the traitor was, despite the misdirection. I think the central macguffin is daft – who thought it would be a good idea to build a city on a volcano and then suppress the forces of nature using an eminently portable bauble?? – but there’s still a lot to enjoy. I came to this from Huff’s “Valour” MilSF series and while this is very different, I enjoyed it a lot.
