Synopsis:
Healer. Harlot. Heretic.
Magdalena Overmorrow is the magician that women go to when they need illegal abortions in the kingdom of Astoleyn. When she is betrayed and arrested, she is banished to the realm’s northernmost city to await her trial where she will be watched over by the pious Lord Proctor of Cair Gramora. With one word he could sentence her to death at the stake.
But when Magda arrives, she is surprised to find that the Lord Proctor isn’t the grizzled old priest she expected, but a man barely older than her; as cold and mysterious as the mountains that surround the cair’s northern border.
Magda knows she must simply stay out of trouble long enough to earn a pardon, but she finds herself drawn to the intrigues plaguing the cair, and to the mysterious Lord Proctor himself, who now holds her life in his hands…
Review:
How to describe this book?
It feels like historical fiction whilst leaning into a low fantasy setting. There is also strong themes of feminism, friendship, and even a touch of romance.
Magda is a scholar, healer, and midwife, secretly using herbal remedies and magic to help women obtain illegal abortions. After being betrayed, Magda is charged as a witch and heretic, punishable by death at the stake.
She is sent to serve a waiting period before her trial as a ward in the isolated northern stronghold under the protection of the Lord Proctor.
Turns out, he’s not as grim, serious, and cold as she had believed.
“Sexual lust and bloodlust,” Magda continues, “may spring from the same source, but that doesn’t make it admirable. If men want to be beasts, they should be treated like beasts. Put them to pasture in fair weather and shut them in a barn at night.”
This story is in conversation with the overturning of Roe v Wade. An angry lament at the state of gender and choice politics.
Magda herself is stubborn, clever, and honourable. She is a force that moves those around her.
Perhaps that is why the ending felt lacklustre without going into spoilers. It did set up an interesting sequel, but it seemed to falter against the build up and the development of feminist themes.
The narrative was also hard to feel rooted in due to the time jumps. We would get such moving accounts from Magda and then time would skip with little gap-filling until absolutely necessary which made it feel disjointed.
Particularly in the last half where I actually wondered if my arc copy had skipped a chunk of the story.
The romance was slow burn and unsatisfying for the most part, although I enjoyed what we were teased with about the Lord Proctor’s character and personal conflictions.
“Are all women in the capital as impertinent as you?”
“Only the ones sent north for apostasy.”
Overall, I enjoyed the setting, the themes, and the strong voice of Magda. However, I do wish the plot was more purposeful aligned with consistent character development.
I would recommend this to fans of The Once and Future Witches by Alix E Harrow and Juliet Marillier (The Sevenwaters).
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