Synopsis:
In the brutal desert city of Kasaban, the old gods have had their statues crushed to powder by invading Priests, with magick forbidden to anyone but themselves. Merely being born as one of the magi makes even infants into fugitives, and the Priests and their spies are always watching, ready to toss their enemies into the purifying flames of execution.
Saya Ani Anai is the last of her family, dedicating her life to being a teacher of magick for little orphaned children. From within her hidden home, she provides the closest thing to a normal life these children may ever know. They help each other like family, working for what they can and stealing the rest to scrape by, forced to live every day under the yoke of oppression.
When the warren-boss who keeps their domain a secret suddenly demands a higher price to keep his silence, they must race to find a way to meet the demand or they will lose their home and their lives. But for the poor living in Kasaban, simply surviving is anything but easy.
With the Priests and their magick-hunters scouring the city for magi to burn, and the catastrophes of daily life intervening to crush her plans at every turn, Saya must risk everything to save her home and keep the children safe. But Kasaban is unforgiving. Its fires rage bright. If she fails, all her hopes will burn.
Review:
The Light of Kasaban is a fast-paced, character-driven story about oppression, quiet defiance, survival, and found family.
It’s set in Kasaban, a harsh and forbidding city. It lies in the middle of a desert; rain is scarce, heat is abundant, and leaving the city means a trek through the unforgiving sands for days before reaching the next water source. To make matters worse, Kasaban is under the dominion of conquering priests on a holy mission to eradicate most magi. Using magick is punishable by death (the priests call it excruciation, rather than execution, and with good reason. Their methods are pretty horrific. If you’re triggered by fire or burns, this is probably not a book for you.)
But for magi, not using magick has its own problems. While it wasn’t explicitly stated what would happen to someone refusing (or unable) to use their powers for an extended period of time, it was implied that the outcome was bad. Using magick is painted as something of a necessity by those with the gift.
Enter the main character, Saya. She’s a young woman who can use magick, and she’s taken it upon herself to gather children with the gift so she can protect them from the priests. Saya is selfless and kind, and she does everything in her power to keep the children safe while they learn about their magick (some are as young as four, others are teens.) The community she builds around her school becomes like a family. Saya does her best to provide for and protect her students, but the odds are stacked against her. Still, she never gives up—and that’s what I loved most about her.
It features a hard magic system, though its rules are only hinted at in this particular story. Magick is rendered using “streams,” which can be bound and woven in various ways. Each mage has their own unique type of magick, however (for example, Saya’s involves bending and refracting light, but she can’t create anything physical. Other magi can create spheres or blocks of matter, while some can manipulate temperature, etc.) I would have loved to know a little more about the magick system overall, since the hints given were so intriguing.
The Light of Kasaban works well as a standalone, but I suspect more might be coming based on the epilogue. I really enjoyed this story.
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