Synopsis:
Set in a fantasy world inspired by Tudor England and the real astrologers who advised kings, The Court of Venus is Bel Banta’s romantic fantasy debut and a beautifully written historical novel about rival magicians.
‘Our kind has many names. Planetborn. Sorcerer. Witch or wizard. Magician.’
In Alvion, magicians have always ruled beside kings. Blessed at birth by one of the seven planets, their abilities are miraculous and rare. Magicians born under Jupiter influence luck. Saturnborn can speak to the dead. Venusborn read the desires of the living.
Bianca Mortlake is born at the moment the stars and planets align just so, making her the first Moonborn magician in over a thousand years. A sorcery so rare that even the history books cannot say what she is capable of.
Alongside a most insufferable Venusborn named Roland, Bianca spends her childhood training under the realm’s most powerful magician. They live a quiet life far from court – until a chilling missive arrives in the night, summoning them back.
A mad and deadly court awaits. Two queens have met the executioner’s blade, and one wrong move could see any of them next beneath its steel. As power is pulled between ruthless royals and courtiers, Bianca must rely on the last person she would ever want to – the infuriatingly alluring Roland.
There is terribly wrong in Alvion. And only this moon-blessed magician and her oldest rival can save the court – and each other – from the dark fate they see written in the stars.
Review:
Set in a Tudor-inspired world where astrologers and magicians rule alongside kings, this was a promising debut with teething problems.
Bianca is born during a rare planetary alignment, making her the first Moonborn magician in over a thousand years. She was trained by the realm’s most powerful magician, alongside her insufferable rival, a Venusborn named Roland. Bianca was Roland’s unwanted shadow, trailing after him and the best of the trio: the noble Prince.
Bianca is embroiled in political intrigue, conspiracies, and desperate to uncover a past murder. Roland, her childhood rival, is the Lord Chancellor, both puppet and master of the king depending on the court’s favour. Oh, and he has pink hair.
“And what’s your price?”
He pondered this for a moment, then held up his ring. “Influence. Yours?”
“A home, I suppose.” I shrugged.
“Safety.” “Oh, Mouse, what a tragic answer. We should have named you Crab instead, for how much you love your shell.”
There was a lot of promise here. Bianca was a compelling character: clever, observant, and strong. Roland is a very complicated magician: the powers of Venus, he is basically a force of attraction to everyone.
The magic system was intriguing: magicians are rare and blessed at birth by one of the seven planets, granting them rare abilities in alignment with their birth and planets.
However, the book fell into a few pitfalls.
First of all, there were certain plot conveniences that were frustrating and went against character development. Without spoilers, there’s this big event that Bianca is worrying about throughout the book. Then, she completely FORGETS about it in order to further the plot? Suspicious.
Likewise, the magic system sounds unique and interesting, yet was never fully explained or explored and there are sudden revelations that work to, you guessed it, fix a plot point. This meant that emotional stakes and immersion wasn’t fully realised.
I wish there were diagrams or excerpts from a textbook etc as that would have been pretty cool and helpful.
For what were names but someone else’s idea of what we were, or could be? Bianca, for my shock of white hair. Mouse, for my scurrying.
I haven’t mentioned the art work yet which is stunning. I bet a lot of people will be convinced by the art inserted in certain chapters.
Overall, I flew through this and it got me in the autumnal mood. It had a lot of potential with a few teething problems that might be forgiven for a debut writer.
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