The Brilliant Death by Amy Rose Capetta
I received an ARC of this book from Novelist in return for an honest review.
This book was so good it put me in a week long book-hangover. I’m really hoping Capetta writes a follow-up because I need more Teo and Cielo goodness!
The Brilliant Death follows Teodora di Sangro, or Teo for short, as she makes her way to the Capitol to meet with the Capo. The Capo is trying to unify Vinalia, but he needs the help of the heirs to the five families, and the best way to do that is to keep their first born sons under his thumb. To that end, he has poisoned the heads of the five families, including Teo’s father, and has demanded that the heirs attend him at his castle.
Teo, who is a strega (unbeknownst to her family and the rest of her townspeople) and has been quietly using her powers to get rid of her family’s enemies for years, decides to answer the Capo’s call. On the way to the city, she meets Cielo, another strega who can shift genders as easily as breathing, and shows Teo just how powerful she might become if she learns to harness her magic.
As Teo’s powers, and her attraction to Cielo, grow the strega starts to wonder if she can ever go back to living life in the shadows. That is, if the Capo decides to let her live at all.
Part of what I really loved about this book was Capetta’s use of language; “wordsmith” is definitely a term I’d use here. Like with this line from early on in Teo’s journey to the Capitol - “At some hazy point, after so much walking that my feet became the high note in an aria of discomfort, one spot in the sky turned raw pink.”
Also, I totally loved the relationship between Teo and Cielo and all its genderfluid glory. “It’s true that I contain more than one thing,” Cielo said. “And sometimes the balance shifts.”
Also, also, the way Capetta explores feminism and being a woman in a patriarchy-fueled society is spot on, but I don’t want to say any more here for fear of spoiling some plot-points.
All-in-all, I found this truly a wonderful read.
