"The Brilliant Death" was a fascinating story of magic and love. Teodora (Teo) has long had a secret- she is a strega, which means that she has magic, and it allows her to change people into objects. She is a second daughter of one of the 5 families. As such, she has more power than most women but still less power than men. However, her education and upbringing has been very different- her father has allowed her to sit in on his lessons. The family controls an area with a mafia-like structure, and his lessons have taught her thinks most of would balk at.
Teo's life is about to change forever. She meets another strega in the woods, fascinating since she thought she might be the only one. This strega is carrying a letter from the Capo, a new ruler seeking to unite the lands controlled by the 5 families. The letter immediately poisons and almost kills her father. It also demands that the new head of the family come to the capital for a meeting. As Teo journeys to the capital, she is joined by the strega who carried the letter- Cielo, who can change him/herself into anything (s)he wishes- boy, girl, cloud, bird, mouse, etc.
Cielo teaches Teo about magic, but Cielo is on a quest of his/her own- to find out what happened to his/her mother. Together, they seek the antidote to the poison killing Teo's father and answers about what happened to Cielo's mother and the other missing streghe. The journey is perilous and fraught with mystery- I was completely captured by the story. This was a tough book to put down, and I absolutely had to know what was going on. There were so many twists and turns that this was a suspenseful and highly engaging read.
I absolutely loved the main characters of Teo and Cielo, as well as the magic. There were a lot of great secondary characters as well that I would be interested in seeing developed more in the future. The magic was also an interesting touch, with new rules and ideas that I had not seen before. This was a fantastic and unique read, and I highly recommend it for YA fantasy lovers- you won't want to miss this one!
Please note that I received an ARC through bookish first. All opinions are my own.
Teo's life is about to change forever. She meets another strega in the woods, fascinating since she thought she might be the only one. This strega is carrying a letter from the Capo, a new ruler seeking to unite the lands controlled by the 5 families. The letter immediately poisons and almost kills her father. It also demands that the new head of the family come to the capital for a meeting. As Teo journeys to the capital, she is joined by the strega who carried the letter- Cielo, who can change him/herself into anything (s)he wishes- boy, girl, cloud, bird, mouse, etc.
Cielo teaches Teo about magic, but Cielo is on a quest of his/her own- to find out what happened to his/her mother. Together, they seek the antidote to the poison killing Teo's father and answers about what happened to Cielo's mother and the other missing streghe. The journey is perilous and fraught with mystery- I was completely captured by the story. This was a tough book to put down, and I absolutely had to know what was going on. There were so many twists and turns that this was a suspenseful and highly engaging read.
I absolutely loved the main characters of Teo and Cielo, as well as the magic. There were a lot of great secondary characters as well that I would be interested in seeing developed more in the future. The magic was also an interesting touch, with new rules and ideas that I had not seen before. This was a fantastic and unique read, and I highly recommend it for YA fantasy lovers- you won't want to miss this one!
Please note that I received an ARC through bookish first. All opinions are my own.