The Revels: The must-read spellbinding historical debut of 2023

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Everen is a dragon. Dragons live in a dying world. Hundreds of years ago they lived in a green, growing world in partnership with humans. But the humans betrayed the dragons and exiled them to this dying world. That, at least, is the story as dragons tell it. Humans have a different story. They aren't a very competent thief, and they frequently overreact, scream, and generally cause a scene. I was very interested to find that the POV of this is a male character – the brother of the infamous Witch hunter of the time. At the time, the country was completely wrapped up and taken over by the fear of witchcraft. This fear had infiltrated the highest levels of government and the royal household. King James I for example, felt that witches were plotting to assasinate him in a plot with the devil. With a leader as mad as this, you can understand why the whole country was soon involved in a witch hunt of any woman suspected of wrongdoing. Most women accused died as a result of the treatment she got. With The Revels , Stacey Thomas has created an original take on this murky, violent episode of British history. It’s a satisfyingly eerie debut from a writer with a keen sense for atmosphere and the darker threads of human motivation. Nicholas Pearce, our main protagonist, is called home following the death of his brother, Francis. Wrapped in guilt for encouraging his brother to join The Royalist army, Nicholas enters an uneasy bargain with his father which sees him abandoning his potential career as a playwright and entering an apprenticeship with Judge William Percival, a former renowned witch-hunter. Unfortunately for Nicholas this is the last person he ever wanted to be charged to, for he harbours a dangerous secret, Nicholson can hear the dead sing. Fearing that this will see him hanged for witchcraft, he conceals what the dead reveal in their songs and keeps their burdens to himself. Yet with the rising demand for witch-hunters, William Percival is pressured into returning to his old occupation and Nicholas is tied to him. How long can Nicholas hide his true self? How many innocent lives can he watch be destroyed before he speaks up?

Beautiful enigmatic historical fiction with gothic atmospheric writing, a treat for those who love this genre. Overall, a beautiful story and a great debut by the author. The topiary had been carved into the shapes of mythical animals…" - What kind? Does this world have the same mythical creatures as ours? There is a lot of this sort of fill-in-the-blank description. This line occurs while the characters are at a ball. The only thing described in any detail is the food. The Promoter accepts no responsibility for entries that are incomplete, illegible, incorrect, corrupted or fail to reach the Promoter by the closing date for any reason. Automatically generated entries or entries via third parties are invalid and shall not be considered. This has to be one of the most exquistely written books I have read for some time. The language, the sentences, the words chosen – it’s like reading a tapestry with those wonderfully coloured threads mixing to form the most fascinating of plots. This lyrical introduction offers plenty of food for thought. The Revels, in fact, has a fresh writing style that continues throughout the story. It is filled with beautiful prose, original comparisons, rich historical references, unique and sometime treacherous characters. There are eloquent numerous lines and moving passages such as seen in the letter from Francis (when he is dying) to Nicholas. It is obvious Francis loves his brother and does not want to see him under the control of their father. Francis also regrets not knowing his brother better. Especially, Nicholas the witch— who the dead sing to. As he states: ‘Fear of the consequences made us shy of each other.’ This was a time of great accusations and hiding such truth was necessary for survival.Thomas said: “ The Revelswas inspired by the victims of the English witch-hunts and the real-life witchfinders who hunted them. I’m so excited to share The Revelswith the world and want to thank my agent Liza, my editor Katie and the HQ family for being such fierce champions of my story.” I was surprised to see how big of a part the romance played in the book. Like I knew there would be a romance since I'd read the blurb, but the romance seemed to take up a pretty large chunk of the plot. So readers who are looking for less romance in their epic fantasy might not like it. I actually loved the romance. The build-up was torturously slow, but it made the payoff and the angst even better. Since this is the first book of a trilogy, I expect the romance was focused to build up the rest of the books on it. His sister Cassia's face is "draconic." No shit, she's a dragon. What does that actually look like?

In most cases, this would be fine with me--great worldbuilding is always a huge plus, but I've also enjoyed books without the bonus just fine. The reason why this stood out as a major issue in Dragonfall though, is that the author is obviously trying too hard. Lots of different aspects of the world were touched upon, from lore to social hierarchy to festival celebrations, but sadly, they all stopped at simply that--touched upon. There are five dragon gods ... and then? What did they do, how did they shape the beliefs of their kind? The society is very open to gender fluidity ... great, and then? How does that affect how people express themselves or view others (other than that they have to sign their gender when introducing themselves)? It is purely coincidental that I happen to be reading The Left Hand of Darkness at the same time as this book. There, you can clearly see gender's influence in every aspect of society, from power balance to work dynamics to holidays and entertainment. I don't expect such a drastically different world in Dragonfall, of course, but one would at least think that for a society so inclusive and acceptive when it comes to gender, the same openness should be reflected in other aspects of life as well, yes? How is it that we only get to be hammered over the head repeatedly with superficial things such as inclusive gender pronouns and sign languages, but not a fundamental sense of equality that should underlie these social rules? But my taie [grandparent] had been brilliant. He’d been able to see what others couldn’t. In magic, and in life. It was what made him so dangerous to the Consul." It's kind of dumb that everyone in Arcady's city is identified by a stone carved with a unique seal given to them at birth. What happens if you lose it? Arcady says at one point they are warded against theft, yet their original one is stolen at the end. By entering this competition, you also agree to the Caboodle Terms and Conditions and Caboodle Points Terms and Conditions.The writing throughout the book was decent. Detailed, not overly flowery but descriptive, with some cool choices of words. I particularly liked the first few chapters in Everen's (the dragon's) POV, where he uses very distinctively "dragon" concepts to describe things, such as "a few wing-lengths away" for distance, "it" to refer to humans, "mammary glands" to refer to breasts, etc. I haven't read too many books with dragons, so I'm not sure how original such language is, but I did find it quite interesting and characteristic. Stacey provides a clear picture of how superstition was rampant in the 1600s. And how it was utilised and abused by those in power. In England and other countries at that time, witch trials and witch hunters were at their height. The number of innocent women (and men to a lesser extent) accused of being witches was massive. Hangings were prevalent. These horrible trials all started under James VI of Scotland. Later when he took the English throne as James I, he made changes to the English Witchcraft Act that sent the country into a frenzy. Talk about mass marketing! And witch trials were maxed by the time this novel begins in 1645.

The Revels is set during 1645, a time where the fear of witchcraft and the sport of witch-hunting was at its peak after King James I became increasingly paranoid about witches partnering up with the Devil to assassinate him. This led to everyone accusing women of being witches for any reason, which 99% of the time led to the death of the accused. Her shoulders slump and she studies the fire. ‘Before, I was something to be protected. Now I am something to be shunted away. Yet I am what I always was: an object to be manoeuvred.” I have always been in two parts. As though half of me is standing behind the curtains watching to see how my other half plays before the crowd. I am still in two parts, but it is as though Althamia has caught sight of us both and rather than recoil, she steps closer.” What about "seeing what others couldn't" (whatever that means) made him dangerous? We never find out. On the human world, society is very stratified, with some people existing as untouchable beggars, others in a merchant class and an aristocracy. And, of course, the usual complement of thieves, con artists and murderers. But within that society, people are free to declare and express their genders as they wish. Your social status, however, is fixed to your identity at birth, so there is very little upward mobility, but lots of opportunities to move down. This is an interesting social setting for a fantasy, and one I haven't seen before.Yet on the other hand Nicholas was as vulnerable as the women, he had to hide a part of himself or face the same punishment. Nicholas was a puppet and his strings were pulled by corrupt men, firstly by his father and then by witch-hunters such as Clements and Rush who covet their small amount of power, and so knowing how best to protect himself and those he cared for, particularly Althamia, became even harder the more embedded with these men he became. The only measure of kindness and understanding he really received was by his father’s valet Stephens and by William Percival, a man who held his own secrets, one that given the attitudes of that era, would see him punished and shamed in the same manner as witches. Thomas shows us that it was a cutthroat time period for all, where the only way for characters such as Clements, General Witchfinder Rush and even Grace, a woman who used her powers to control minds, to rise was to see the ruin of others.