A Season of Sinister Dreams (2021) by Tracy Banghart follows two young women, Evra and Annalise, whose lives become irrevocably intertwined when the crown prince disappears. Told in first-person present and alternating points of view, this story is one of sinister magic, morally gray characters, and girls who stop at nothing to protect their loved ones.
Evra is the daughter of farmers, nearly outcast by her village because of her large stature and lack of magic. Annalise is the ailing king’s grand-niece with a magic so great, she’s kept it hidden from him all these years. It’s when her cousin abdicates from his position that she’s thrust into the spotlight as heir to the throne. An entire cast of characters support them in their respective missions, but a few stood out as stronger than the others.
My favorite characters are Evra and her best friend Tamsin. When Evra’s rare Clearsee magic manifests, the two girls travel together to the capital to lend Evra’s service to the king. The story with the king is a complicated one: ten years prior, he lost his son and daughter-in-law to the Sickness, which read like a plague, so he called (actually forced) all powerful magic workers, especially healers, to the capital to protect his grandson and himself.
I LOVED Banghart’s Grace and Fury (2018) and its sequel Queen of Ruin (2019), so I was excited when I received an ARC from Netgalley for her newest book. While Banghart’s writing is solid, the setting and the story fall a little flat for me. The story takes place in a fictional medieval-like setting, with kings, knights, and grand balls, and magic both commonplace and life-changing. Some of my qualms might be because I read an uncorrected proof, but there were a few small things that stuck out to me, mostly worldbuilding and word choice issues (e.g., abnegate vs. abdicate). The first few chapters from Annalise’s point of view were shaky and confusing, though they did get stronger later on.
Having loved Banghart’s first two books so fiercely, I was a little disappointed in this! I will still recommend it because it features two strong female characters that are good representations of what it means to struggle with decisions that affect not only yourself, but others as well, and a fierce female friendship that reminds me of my best friend. If you’re interested in a quick fantasy read without too much heavy worldbuilding, this one’s for you.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, for providing a review copy in exchange for my honest review.
