GAME OF STRENGTH AND STORM

An original debut reimagines Greek mythology.

Each year, the sadistic Olympian Empresses conduct a lottery and offer the winners one wish each—for a price. Seventeen-year-old Gen’s wish is to free her innocent MindWorker father from prison. StormMaker Lady Castor’s wish is to be named heir to Arcadia and supersede her musician brother, Pollux. This year, the Empresses set conditions: There will be 10 tasks (all creative twists on the labors of Hercules), with Gen and Castor vying to win the majority and receive a wish; only the winner will receive her wish. Gen, the last surviving member of the Mazon people after a genocide at the hands of the golden-skinned Gargareans, values her chosen family of animals, with whom she has a telepathic bond, and longs to rebuild her parents’ traveling circus. Castor is spoiled and cruel and, with her father, the Duke, sold the bottled storms that allowed the Mazon genocide, but she shows occasional moments of vulnerability. Close third-person narration switches among Gen, Castor, and Pollux, who has long admired Gen from afar and wants his sister to lose for her own good. Gen’s skin is brown and silver; Castor and Pollux have white hair and skin. Supporting characters bring fantasy-race diversity. The complexities of the worldbuilding notwithstanding, this is a fast-paced, magical, action-oriented story with a conclusion that points to more adventures to come.

Engrossing.