Elijah Kinch Spector's con artist caught up in court intrigues turns fantasy fortuneteller tropes inside out. Kalyna is not only the novel's unlikely hero, but she's also a shameless fake.
The fantasy archetype of the soothsayer is often a supporting character, trotted out or journeyed to for a crucial yet standalone scene in which she provides some context or clue to the hero about how everything will turn out. Then she usually retreats into her remote hideout, never to be seen again — at least not until the next protagonist requires a glimpse into the future., not only is the fortuneteller the unlikely hero, but she's also a shameless fake.
But not even Kalyna can foresee a political plot in which she's kidnapped so that she can advise the louche Prince Friedhelm of Rotfelsen, who will do anything to avoid his royal birthright. Kalyna is his"Eleventh Recourse," just as disposable as the 10 people before her if she fails to predict a future of continued debauchery.
Kalyna's story doesn't really get going until literally the wheels are turning — that is, as she's spirited away from an encampment in Masovska by the spymaster of neighboring Rotfelsen. And then you have someone like Kalyna, who looks like she's from both everywhere and nowhere — a quality that's useful for shifting between factions, but also a nasty hurdle to gaining the trust of the more xenophobic Rots.
The tricky narrative style challenges the reader's expectations of tidy chapters, instead laying out the action in vividly-titled scenes , each not unlike a tarot card illustrated with a single visual or self-contained narrative.
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