One for My Enemy
A Novel
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- $16.99
Publisher Description
From New York Times bestselling author Olivie Blake comes an intricate web of love, magic, and rival witch families in New York City.
In modern-day Manhattan where we lay our scene, two rival witch families fight to maintain control of their respective criminal empires.
On one side of the conflict are the Antonova sisters — each one beautiful, cunning, and ruthless — and their mother, the elusive supplier of premium intoxicants, known only as Baba Yaga. On the other side, the influential Fedorov brothers serve their father, the crime boss known as Koschei the Deathless, whose ventures dominate the shadows of magical Manhattan.
After twelve years of tenuous co-existence, one family member brutally crosses the line. Bad blood reignites old grudges; at the same time, fate intervenes with a chance encounter between enemies. In the wake of love and vengeance, everyone must choose a side. As each of the siblings struggles to stake their claim, who has what it takes to stay on top?
And who has what it takes to stay alive?
“Olivie Blake is a mind-blowing talent."―Chloe Gong, author of New York Times bestselling These Violent Delights
Also by Olivie Blake
Alone with You in the Ether
Masters of Death
The Atlas Six
The Atlas Paradox
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Feuding magical families take center stage in this fascinating but convoluted fantasy from Blake (The Atlas Six). When Baba Yaga, the matriarch of a gifted family of witches, refuses to marry Koschei the Deathless, the patriarch of the most fearsome magical crime ring in Manhattan, she inadvertently starts a cold war. Baba Yaga raises her first daughter, Marya Antonova, to be a lethal and loyal weapon, while Koschei does the same with his own heir, Dimtri Federov. The tension between the families grows for 12 years until the Federovs make the first move, prompting a deadly response from the Antonovas. But when the neglected youngest adult children from each family, Sasha and Lev, meet and fall in love, their family loyalties are tested as they search for a way to end the cycle of vengeance. The Romeo and Juliet–esque romance is emotional and well done, and the familial relationships carry real weight, but the expansive cast—who all go by multiple nicknames—can be difficult to keep straight, and the characters' many motivations feel underexplored in myriad subplots that go nowhere. Blake's poetic language ("Roman had a spine like lightning, footfall like thunder") occasionally further obscures the action. It's a solid premise, but the execution is lacking.
