This book will be published on July 21, 2020. I read the advanced reader's copy, and there will undoubtedly be differences in the version I read and the published edition.
I previously read Disappearances by Emily Blain Murphy (but failed to blog about it *cough*) but I loved it! It was AWESOME, and had a storyline that lingers in the back of my mind to speculate and wonder about some more. It was delightful.
I was pretty excited to pick this up. Then as I started reading, I was even more curious about where the story was going to wind up.
An amazon summary, "For Marit Olsen, magic is all about strategy: it flows freely through her blood, but every use leaves behind a deadly, ice-like build-up within her veins called the Firn. Marit knows how dangerous it is to let too much Firn build up—after all, it killed her sister—and she has vowed never to use her thread magic. But when Eve, a fellow orphan whom Marit views like a little sister, is adopted by the wealthy Helene Vestergaard, Marit will do anything to stay by Eve’s side. She decides to risk the Firn and uses magic to secure a job as a seamstress in the Vestergaard household.
But Marit has a second, hidden agenda: her father died while working in the Vestergaards’ jewel mines—and it might not have been an accident. The closer Marit gets to the truth about the Vestergaard family, the more she realizes she and everyone she’s come to love are in danger. When she finds herself in the middle of a treacherous deception that goes all the way up to the king of Denmark, magic may be the only thing that can save her—if it doesn’t kill her first." AMAZON LINK OF JUSTICE
Marit's father died when she was fairly young (her mother was already dead), and it was just Marit and her older sister for a bit. Her older sister used too much magic one day, and ends up dying from the firn (think like small blue chunks building up in veins that stops blood flow. Often appears as blue lines of the wrists as a sign of fatal use of magic). Since her sister died, Marit went to live in the orphanage where she met a much younger girl, Eve. The two acted like sisters. Marit winds up aging out of the orphanage, and starts work as a seamstress for a local shop. It's considered probably the best situation she could wind up based on her circumstances. ...but her sister Eve is a brilliant dancer; she aspires to be a ballerina on the same level as the famous Vestergaard that also came from the same orphanage they were raised in. Prospective parents come to the orphanage, and Marit ends up using some of her magic to finish Eve's costume on time.
Eve performs very well, but not well enough for the prospective parents to adopt her. Luckily, there was another adult in the crowd, the famous ballerina who was raised in the orphanage, a Verstergaard, who has decided to adopt Eve. Marit's heart soars for Eve to be adopted, but also breaks over the loss of her sister. Her sister is also being adopted by the woman who owns the mines her father died in, something that Marit will always harbor against her. In a desperate attempt to have the madam take Marit with her, and therefore with Eve, Marit 'accidentally' rips the madams coat. She impeccably fixes it with a bit of her magic. The madam recognizes her use of magic and hires her. Marit isn't sure what she got herself into, but at least she'll stay close to Eve.
Dun dun dunnn..... that's enough summary.
So, there's also a random kind of trail of bread crumbs that Marit's father left for his children to see if they could stop what was going on. But what exactly was going on?
The interesting part about this story is that it kind of presents itself in a bare bones manner of like, "This is just a couple of orphans trying to keep the family they found for themselves" but in the midst of those bare bones it's also like, "MAGIC! MURDER! MYSTERY!" and it's a little disjointing sometimes, but works out beautifully in the end.
I also think some of the mechanics of the magic were a little wonky? Like there seemed to be some people who could use a LOT of magic kind of frequently, and other people who used a little bit and were in danger from the firn. A lot of different factors could be at play like lineage, age, and I don't know, use while growing up? I know they don't know all the ins and outs of magic, so maybe if there's a sequel, there might be more there? But if there's not a sequel, I would be content with that too.
Overall, it was a good read, but I kind of wish the pacing of the story had been a little more steady/consistent.
Happy reading!
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