The Councillor
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
This fantasy novel follows a scholar's quest to choose the next ruler of her nation amidst lies, conspiracy, and assassination
When the death of Iron Queen Sarelin Brey fractures the realm of Elira, Lysande Prior, the palace scholar and the queen’s closest friend, is appointed Councillor. Publically, Lysande must choose the next monarch from amongst the city-rulers vying for the throne. Privately, she seeks to discover which ruler murdered the queen, suspecting the use of magic.
Resourceful, analytical, and quiet, Lysande appears to embody the motto she was raised with: everything in its place. Yet while she hides her drug addiction from her new associates, she cannot hide her growing interest in power. She becomes locked in a game of strategy with the city-rulers – especially the erudite prince Luca Fontaine, who seems to shift between ally and rival.
Further from home, an old enemy is stirring: the magic-wielding White Queen is on the move again, and her alliance with a traitor among the royal milieu poses a danger not just to the peace of the realm, but to the survival of everything that Lysande cares about.
In a world where the low-born keep their heads down, Lysande must learn to fight an enemy who wears many guises… even as she wages her own battle between ambition and restraint.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Beaton's slow-moving fantasy debut follows a volume of poetry (Unbroken Circle) and a PhD thesis on Shakespearean drama—and these influences manifest clearly throughout the saga of Lysande Prior, an orphan swept from indigence to be raised in the Eliran palace. When Lysande's royal mentor, Queen Sarelin, is assassinated, Lysande, now 22, becomes the Councillor, tasked with selecting the next ruler of Elira. Elira is ostensibly a post-magical realm, the land's former rulers, the elementals, having been ousted by humans with magic-neutralizing handcuffs. Now the last elemental power player, the White Queen, is suspected of Sarelin's assassination. But no one suspects Lysande's addiction to a magical potion, supplied by an elemental friend. Thus, while Lysande seeks the defeat of the White Queen, she's equally driven to protect everyday elementals. This premise is typical of high fantasy, but the language, pacing, and relentless imagery—black roses, writing quills, and the colors gold and green feature prominently—are of a different order. In dense, occasionally overwritten prose, Beaton excavates Lysande's inner life, sometimes at the expense of worldbuilding, which is maddeningly slow to cohere. The pace accelerates and stakes become clear once Lysande's foil, Luca Fontaine, arrives in the mix—but it's a long wait. Readers will need to be patient to get to the goods.
