REVIEW: Silvercloak by L.K. Stevens
Fantasy and I have an uneasy relationship. Some of my favorite books in the world are fantasies, or at least have fantastical elements. But I’ve also found many fantasy novels impenetrable due to world-building. When everything – people and place names, foods, societal structure and history – is made-up and foreign to me, I get overwhelmed and cannot get into the story.
I told a friend that I preferred fantasy that was rooted in the real world, because there is less of a learning curve. But she pointed out that there is more leeway for beauty and creativity in books set in different worlds. She’s not wrong. So I decided that it’s more a matter of: some fantasy works for me, and some doesn’t, for various reasons. (One of which is being stressed and confused by world-building.)
Anyway, I picked up Silvercloak because it was touted as similar to Naomi Novik’s Scholomance series, which I adore. I will not leave anyone in suspense: Silvercloak is nothing like the Scholomance books. I really don’t see any similarities besides there being a female protagonist with magical abilities.
Saffron Killoran is in her mid-20s and about to graduate from the Silvercloak Academy, which is sort of a magical police academy. Her parents are killed in the (very intense) prologue, when Saffron is six, and twenty years later she has a secret plan for revenge on the murderers. The killers were part of a group called the Bloodmoons, who are more or less the magical mafia.
I’m also generally not big on revenge plots, though there are always exceptions. I find protagonists bent on revenge rather single-minded and difficult for me to relate to. So this book started off with a couple of strikes against it, and I did find it difficult to get into.
Saffron has one final magical test that she needs to complete with her cohort in order to graduate from the Silvercloak Academy. The members of the cohort all have different approaches to the test – a mission in which they are supposed to extract fake hostages using magic – and things go south almost immediately. Saff ends up inadvertently exposing her big secret: she is immune to magic.
You’d think that would be a good thing, and very useful in a Silvercloak, but apparently it’s a rare (maybe even unheard of?) condition and kind of a big deal. The powers that be seem to try to regulate the way magic is used in their world (which makes a certain amount of sense), and Saff’s ability gives her an advantage that could be misused. But there are also disadvantages to this trait: for instance, if injured in a non-magical way, she can’t be healed by magic as any other magicians can. I understand Saff keeping the trait a secret but I don’t quite understand why it would automatically disqualify her being a Silvercloak.
Saff also faked a certification in order to get into the Silvercloak Academy, which is another reason her graduation is in serious jeopardy. She has a meeting with Captain Aspar, her superior in the academy, and is offered an opportunity: go undercover with the Bloodmoons and help take them down. Since this dovetails with her plans neatly, Saff is more than happy to accept. The downside is that she has to do a stint in jail first and present herself to the world as a disgrace that was kicked out of the Silvercloaks.
One plot point that I wanted to mention – it’s sometimes treated as important but also it came up sporadically enough that I would kind of forget about it while reading: in this world, magic is replenished through pain and/or pleasure. My first thought on reading this was that the book was going to have an BDSM bent, and I was not happy, since I really do not care for that in a story. But again, it didn’t feel like it came up super-frequently, and when it did, it was much more about the people in that world being apparently perpetually horny, for magical reasons. (That said, it’s not like there’s a ton of explicit sex in the book; it’s just that Saff and pretty much everyone in the story is very fluid and DTF at any given time. For, again, magical reasons.)
Saff successfully infiltrates the Bloodmoons – her immunity to magic means that she is able to fake her way through an initiation meant to weed out double agents. She becomes sort of the pet/sidekick of Levan, who is the son of the kingpin of the Bloodmoons. Saff had previously had a vision of Levan, before she met him or knew who he was. In this vision she kisses and then kills Levan. Saffron, not given to visions, is confused about whether this is true prescience or something else.
The plot that follows is pretty busy. Levan is trying to find a necromancer for mysterious reasons, and Saff is pulled into that quest against her will. Meanwhile, she’s trying to get dirt on the Bloodmoons, all while avoiding detection. Then there is the growing kinship she feels, against her will, with Levan.
I never clicked with Saffron as a heroine. It wasn’t just the revenge storyline that I found offputting; I didn’t find her to be very interesting as a character. I don’t require super-competence in this type of heroine, but I often felt that Saff acted first and thought later. It got tiresome after a while.
There was an unexpected twist late in the book that really did take me by surprise, but it wasn’t enough to make me interested in continuing with the series. My grade for this was a C+.
Best,
Jennie
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