The crack at the heart of everything

Fenn charms in her debut romantasy, the first in a series. Dark sorcerer Orpheus is banished from former friend and current empress Lore's court after a piece of magic saddles him with a curse that has "hell beasts" continually attempting to murder him. Surprisingly, he is accompanied in his departure by his court rival, Fenrir Rawkner, a brawny, fearless soldier who has all the girls drooling over him. It's perhaps too quickly that Orpheus's evil villain energy dissipates and Fenrir's adversarial tendencies turn flirtatious, but the men still make an enticing couple as they set out to find a way to reverse Orpheus's curse. Their quest contains much heroic swashbuckling, mostly on Fenrir's part, alongside internal turmoil and shocking revelations, mostly on Orpheus's. The moral rectitude at times toes the line of preachiness, and readers looking to Orpheus for true antihero vibes ought to look elsewhere. Still, Fenn conjures an intricate and enthralling magical world for readers to sink their teeth into. This is a promising start. (Nov.)