Courting Darkness
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- €5.99
Publisher Description
When Sybella accompanies the Duchess of Brittany to France, she expects trouble, but she isn’t expecting a deadly trap. Surrounded by enemies both known and unknown, Sybella searches for the undercover assassins from the convent of St. Mortain who were placed in the French court years ago.
Genevieve has been undercover for so many years, she no longer knows who she is or what she’s supposed to be fighting for. When she discovers a hidden prisoner who may be of importance, she takes matters into her own hands.
As these two worlds collide, the fate of the Duchess, Brittany, and everything Sybella and Genevieve have come to love hangs in the balance.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
First in a duology, this tempestuous YA fantasy opens in the wake of LaFevers's His Fair Assassins trilogy. It's 1489, and Sybella convent-trained assassin and daughter of Saint Mortain, also known as Death is desperate to shield her younger sisters from their barbaric older brother, Pierre d'Albret. Brittany's Duchess Anne hopes to broker peace with France by marrying King Charles, so Sybella offers to accompany her, trusting that Anne will continue to foster the girls when she becomes queen. Sybella also seeks fellow assassin and Death's daughter Genevieve, who is embedded within French nobility and gathering information for Brittany pending an assignment from Saint Mortain's convent. When the lecherous Count Angoul me demands that Genevieve become his mistress, she stops waiting for instructions and with the assistance of one of the Count's prisoners hatches her own plan to advance Saint Mortain's agenda. Sybella and Genevieve trade chapters, their stories entwining as their paths converge. The book's plot assumes some familiarity with its companion trilogy, which may confuse new readers; nevertheless, LaFevers's blood-soaked, machination-riddled tale captivates as its fierce, passionate, intelligent female characters examine issues of agency and empowerment, freedom, and sisterhood. Ages 14 up.
