THE NOTORIOUS VIRTUES

The magic flows as easily as the champagne as cousins strive to best one another to earn the title of Holtzfall Heiress by winning the sometimes-deadly Veritaz Trials.

When Verity Holtzfall turns up dead—and her bodyguard knight, Alaric Rydder, is missing—everyone in Walstad knows that a new heiress must be chosen according to the centuries-old Veritaz, which tests the virtues of eligible candidates. Along with teenage cousins Nora (Verity’s daughter), Modesty, Constance, and Clemency, a fifth cousin, Lotte, appears, released from the convent where she’s been living, until recently unaware of her Holtzfall bloodline. The trials are always different, testing “bravery, or honesty, or temperance, or any of a dozen other virtues” in unexpected ways. The winner receives all the entrants’ magic. In Walstad, a society whose worldbuilding features Scandinavian cultural influences, the self-congratulatory upper crust lives in luxury, while activists called Grims agitate for reform. This sprawling story’s multiple narrators never lose their footing, even as they race along the twisty pathways of forbidden love and shocking alliances and reveals. Dark-haired Nora’s father was a “desert-born” Mirajin; references to his Arab-coded culture evoke some Orientalist tropes. Other major characters read white. The cliffhanger conclusion of this riveting series opener that explores themes of trust and growth will leave readers eager for the next installment.

Strong young women lead in this atmospheric tale that’s oozing with magic, secrets, and temptation.