Review by Booklist Review
Gratton continues the story of the Empire between Five Mountains, begun in Night Shine (2020), with this companion novel that follows Raliel Dark-Smile (daughter of Emperor Kirin) and Kirin's two consorts, Sky and Elegant Waters. Growing up in the palace, Raliel has matured into a princess as perfect and passionless as she believes befits the heir. However, when it's time for her Heir's Journey, she discovers her heart does desire something: she wants to free Moon, the great demon bound to the palace and her closest companion. This nearly impossible task risks the empire's safety, but Raliel believes it's morally right. They are accompanied by Osian, a charming palace guard, who is torn between his vengeful mother's order to kill the princess and his own values. This intricate, enigmatic novel is fascinating in its strangeness, at turns dreamlike and visceral, with elegantly ornate world building. As Raliel and Moon (who resides inside Raliel while out of the palace) explore the empire and learn dangerous sorcery, they investigate what makes people their true selves and what binds people together.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 9 Up--In this lush, gender-affirming fantasy adventure, the heir to an empire escapes the constraints of palace life in order to liberate herself--and the demon who possesses her. The novel is gripping, though its complexity requires a slow start. Following up on Gratton's Night Shine, this novel has entwined plots that find as their impetus the complex matters of consent and inheritance. Raliel and her demon struggle between their inherited duty toward each other and a chosen bond. Meanwhile, Osian, Raliel's charming bodyguard, secretly must decide whether to continue a blood feud that will endanger his princess. More happily, the novel considers the positive legacy of Raliel's father, an emperor whose open embrace of his gender fluidity inspires Osian to love himself. All these multilayered themes are balanced by plenty of action--after Raliel slips away from her carefully planned Heir's Journey, she flirts with demons and warriors, battles rogue sorcerers, and magically transcends life and death. Drawing on East Asian culture and geography, the book offers tangible details, from aristocratic cosmetic rituals and the taste of candied flower petals to the iridescence of water dragons. The writing is rich and lyrical, and strong enough to survive the occasional discordant "wow" or "weird." The novel will be easier to access for those who have already read Night Shine, but it provides plenty of treasures for first-time readers of Gratton. VERDICT A complex, thoughtful, sexy adventure that is highly recommended for fans of Robin McKinley, Tamora Pierce, and Rainbow Rowell's "Carry On" series.--Katherine Magyarody
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
Names hold utmost power throughout the empire; Raliel Dark-Smile, who chose her own, will come to know this better than any. Raliel has forged herself into the ideal Heir, perfect and perfectly detached. She does not know who she is, but she knows what she wants: something she has earned on her own rather than things she has simply been given. She has an unbreakable, ineffable bond with Moon, the palace demon, and while she knows that her family chooses to remain bound to their roles, she wants Moon to have a choice, too. As Raliel sets out on her Heir's Journey, accompanied only by Moon and Osian Redpop, a charming guard who is more than he seems, she comes to learn about not only her empire, but the true power--and danger--of a name. Identity, fluidity, and choice lie at the heart of this dense, darkly mystical companion to Gratton's Night Shine (2020) that is best appreciated by those familiar with the earlier volume. It is a tapestry of self-discovery, redolent with vivid imagery: sometimes cloyingly ornate, sometimes breathlessly pithy. Some sections feel dreamlike, whereas others throb with life. The plot, transparent through its manifold layers, takes a back seat to the forging of relationships between the characters and the (at times heavy-handed) dismantling of the dualities that bind characters to false versions of themselves. Most characters present some form of queer identity; they are diverse in appearance. Sensual and strange. (Fantasy. 14-18) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
