Honor & Heresy
A Gothic Academia Novel
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
Instagram sensation Max Francis makes his highly anticipated debut with this atmospheric, gothic, dark academic fantasy of two scholars racing each other to find answers to an invasion in a haunted library, perfect for fans of Katabasis and A Study in Drowning.
Roy Dawnseve, the prospective heir to Dawnseve Manor, cares more for philosophy than battle. However, in a society that shuns literature and promotes violence, his fate is compromised. But Roy is given a choice: he can either brave the front lines and fight the Old Ones, the mysterious, black-armored soldiers invading Northgard—or he can investigate their identity in the Orphic Basilica, an ancient, abandoned library.
When Roy chooses to unravel the mystery, it soon becomes clear that the Orphic Basilica isn’t without its own horrors. Strange voices echo down the halls, ghosts with burning red eyes roam the bookshelves, and those who stepped foot in the library have either emerged insane or were driven to their own demise.
Roy’s only companion—and his partner in the investigation—is Percival Atherton, a manipulative, enigmatic and distractingly charming scholar who has no qualms about belittling Roy. As a fierce snowstorm sinks its claws into the city, isolating them from civilization, Roy and Percival must grapple with their tormented pasts, an unexpected romance, and an age-old conspiracy whose secrets are certain to wipe Northgard from history.
Filled with all the yearning of a rivals-to-lovers romance, the intrigue and fear of a dark academia, and the wonder and discovery of an epic fantasy, Honor & Heresy is ultimately a story of self-discovery amidst the chaos of war and a long, cold winter.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A duo races to understand a threat to their city in Francis's ambitious but underbaked queer dark academia debut. In a world where scholarship is punishable by death, bookish noble Roy Dawnseve, 25, is given a choice by the despotic governor: either join the fight against the unstoppable Old Ones or be given six months in the haunted Orphic Basilica, an ancient library, to discover some way to defeat this fearsome enemy. When Roy discovers that another scholar, Percival Atherton, has been given the same task, he hopes they might work together, only to be snubbed and condescended to. Still, as the building itself seems to direct their efforts by blowing important documents their way, the two men, each haunted by traumas, start to work together. The narrative leans increasingly into fantasy as ghosts, powerful swords, and a never-ending snowstorm raise the stakes. While Francis builds a rich world and has a flair for high fantasy language, the plot vacillates between plodding and confusing and the eventual romance feels rushed. This has the atmosphere and trappings of an exciting tale but never quite coalesces.
