A Cruel and Fated Light
A Cruel and Fated Light
The first of the ice wraiths materialized, rearing up in front of Nausicaä so much bigger than Arlo had imagined they’d be. Like a giant, the wraith towered over her, the rags of a former luxurious robe fluttering in the air around him, his flesh as bitter white as snow, decayed in places and hanging in others from the brittle bone beneath.
Frost dripped in icy shards from his wisp-blue hair and beard.
It caked his skin like scales.
When he opened his mouth, it was to screech out at Nausicaä with a war cry so shrill that Arlo flinched back against Luck to try to block it out. Baring her teeth, Nausicaä bellowed right back and swung her sword in one, elegant, forceful arc to slice clean through the wraith quicker than he had time to comprehend.
Another screech pierced the air, and as Nausicaä’s sword cleared through his opposite side, instead of sliding apart to the ground, he burst into a shatter of ice, a gust of wind, and creaking magic, and scattered to nothing into the wind. (Pp. 420-421)
After stopping the man behind the Ironborn murders, all Arlo wants is a peaceful summer, and, when Queen Riadne offers to host Arlo at the Seelie Summer palace, she jumps at the chance. But no one trusts the Queen of Light, and with Summer Solstice fast approaching, they expect her to challenge the High King for power. Soon Arlo will be faced with a choice that will change the fate of the Mortal Realm forever and could condemn it to a cruelty never seen in the courts.
A Cruel and Fated Light, the second book in “The Hollow Star Saga”, picks up a few months after the events of the first book, A Dark and Hollow Star with the onset of summer. Readers familiar with the first book will be pleased to see all of their favourites return, including Vehan and Aurelian whose stories are expanded upon in this title. Through scene breaks in between chapters, readers also learn about Queen Riadne’s past and get a sense of what she’s up to and what drives her.
The story also finds Arlo at a crossroads as she struggles to get a handle on her powers and her feelings for Nausicaä. While Shuttleworth does draw out the “she loves me/she loves me not” aspect of Arlo and Nausicaä’s relationship, they do a good job of capturing the confusion and uncertainty that many teens feel when navigating first love. Arlo doesn’t know yet what her sexuality is, but she does know she loves Nausicaä, and it’s refreshing for a story to portray a teen who has the space to figure it out without adult pressure.
The teen characters are interesting and well-developed, and Riadne is a fierce and truly despicable villain. The positive depiction of queerness in the novel is also to be applauded, and LGBTQ+ teens will enjoy seeing themselves front and center in an epic fantasy story.
As with A Dark and Hollow Star, the author also includes a note at the start of the book advising readers to be aware of the content warnings and difficult subject matter so that they aren’t blind sided by their inclusion.
The writing is solid, and Shuttleworth packs a lot into the 640 pages, but the pacing is uneven and takes away from the story. The action moves very slowly in parts, and, while there are brief flashes of excitement, there are far too many sections where nothing of any significance happens, and it feels long-winded and tedious.
While some writers argue that fantasy needs to be longer for the sake of world building, A Cruel and Fated Light would have been much stronger had it been about half the length. The pace does pick up in the last quarter of the book, and the excitement of the final chapters and the cliff hanger ending should entice readers to pick up the third when it releases.
Rachel Seigel is an Adult selection Specialist at LSC and an author.