The Brilliant Death

It's not often that I like a relationship more than I like the separate parts of it, but that's the case with The Brilliant Death. I love Teo and Cielo together. As a couple they are amazing. I like them individually, but together they are something unique and lovely. By the end of the book, they can both switch genders at will, and they love each other for who they are, not what bodies they happen to be wearing.

This book plays with the gender binary, giving us two characters who dance from boy to girl and back again when it's convenient for them. Teo uses this ability to masquerade as her brother, going to the capital city when summoned by the ruler of her country after the assassination of her father.

If Teo's name and the use of the word “strega” hadn't given it away, the book is very Italian-inspired. The family ties, the landscape, the names, the atmosphere is unmistakably Italian. While that's still a Western European culture, it's not one we actually see in fantasy that often, which makes this book more enthralling.

While Teo juggles loyalties to family, country, and friends, Cielo is on a mission to find out what happened to their mother. Falling in love isn't in the plan for either of them, but when is it, really?

I loved the magic, the characters, and the setting of this one, and I really hope there's going to be a sequel. The plot was definitely left open enough to allow for one, though I could be happy with this as a standalone, too.

You can find all my reviews at Goddess in the Stacks.

i'm not entirely sure how i feel about this overall, but i can say that i really enjoyed the conversations and scenes regarding genderfluidity, which i thought were beautifully done. i think that this book's shortcomings fall with the overall storytelling, as the plot meandered and the pacing felt off after the first 30% of the book

also, i'm a sucker for a good book with sibling heroes (see: the bone witch trilogy) so i had gotten my hopes up that there was going to be some of that in this book but uh... mild spoiler alert? i was disappointed?

[b:The Brilliant Death 34198648 The Brilliant Death (The Brilliant Death, #1) Amy Rose Capetta https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1525971154l/34198648.SY75.jpg 55239196]Gender BenderThe story was interesting, the characters were engaging, and the writing was lovely. It is difficult to describe, but there is a sort of poetic feel to the author's prose that is savory and warm. The social themes of this story were respectfully handled and treated with kindness, love, and understanding. There is a lot going on in this book - murder, intrigue, plotting, magic, love, and betrayal. All of these can add up to a drab boring cliched tropey story, but here they all worked in sync. Teodora is a strega, she has magic - but she doesn't know much about it. She knows she can transform people into objects, but doesn't know how it works or how to do anything else. She meets a mysterious stranger, Cielo, who can change their gender at will, and longs to know more. When it becomes necessary for her to become a man - not just dress like one, but BE one - she asks Cielo to teach her. Learning how to use her magic is one of the integral plot points, because as she continues on her journey, she is constantly having to adjust how she uses it. The story builds well and the characters are so beautifully descriptive that it makes it a joy to read because you as the reader want to know how the story will unfold. The magic that is central to this book is a very special kind of magic, it's shape-shifting, and that's important to the most wonderful, surprising, and probably groundbreaking part of this novel: Teo (and Cielo) learns to change from a girl to a boy, and back (as a strega), and the conversation about how she/he feels in that body at different times. The power to change the body, and how Teo learns to harness magic is a fascinating part of this book, and Capetta approaches it with a delicateness, and at the same time, boldness, which makes the ‘gender-bending' so unique and so wonderful to read. I don't want to give away too much more of the story but I will say being someone who doesn't often read fantasy this one impressed me and I will be reading book two just to see how beautifully the story continues. That being said this is a sold four stars for me and that is high praise considering this is a new author for me.