The Brilliant Death is Brilliantly Beautiful. A masterpiece of magic, gender fluidity, mafia style family takeovers, and wonderfully complex characters, it's a perfectly imaginative love story. The book touches on topics of misogyny and the protagonist's struggle to find her place within the structure of her family, especially with the death of one beloved brother, and the insanity and instability of another. Teodora strikes out on a literal and a metaphorical journey with Cielo to save both her home and her family, and to find out who she really is and what her magic can do for her. If this first book is anything to go by, I can only hope this isn't the last we've heard of Teodora di Sangro.