CITY OF STORMS

Magic and religion struggle to govern a city filled with dark urges in this fantasy series opener.

In the city of Novostopol, Alexei Bryce is a priest of the Curia. The priesthood teaches the Via Sancta, the belief that “all things, however mundane, must be beautiful.” They also tattoo elaborate “Marks” on citizens to dull vices like greed and violence. One night, Bryce and his partner, Patryk Spassov, hunt an Invertido, someone whose Mark has been inverted, most likely by a Nightmage, one of the Curia’s longtime enemies. The Invertido are considered sick, incapable of resisting base desires, and once caught, they are committed to the Batavia Institute. Dr. Ferran Massot runs Batavia, but tonight he hosts a party. He invites Natalya Anderle, a cartomancer, to visit and read his fortune with her deck. Feeling ill, Natalya sends her roommate, Kasia Novak, in her place. Kasia sees misfortune ahead for Massot, who attacks her. With the help of magical dogs called Markhounds, Bryce and Spassov track down Massot before he can hurt Kasia, little fathoming what she’s stolen from the doctor’s home. Meanwhile, the Nightmage Malach holds rancor in his heart after the Curia wiped out his people in the jungles of Bal Kirith. He plans revenge with the help of a woman willing to bear him a special child. Ross drapes a tense political thriller in a trench coat of dark fantasy. A magic system in which ley lines network the city and citizens can tap into three increasingly dangerous layers of power gives characters room to shift allegiances. Touches of noir charge the prose (“Red light bled from Malach’s sleeves. It flickered in the depths of his eyes like a pair of burning embers”), and plot threads twine intricately. A thrilling dynamic exists among the Curia, the citizens they test for Mark compatibility, and those who fail the test—people considered “sociopathic deviants.” Readers should expect the unexpected.

Richly textured and fabulously conceived.