A Treason of Magic by Melissa Marr

Blurb:

In a world where magic, desire, and duty collide, it is beauty who is fated to kill the beast in a lush historical fantasy of secrets and star-crossed love by New York Times bestselling author Melissa Marr.

Two young women. Heirs to altogether different hereditary burdens. Yet bound by a monstrous threat to their village.

Gabrielle is the first woman in Alveus to carry the mantle of Hunter, which comes with an obligation to kill the faery beasts murdering travelers in Brimmond Wood. Wary of the power she wields as guardian of her people, Gabrielle is summoned by her first love, a seductress who shattered her heart into pieces a decade ago.

Isabeau is the rarest of nobility—a lady duke. She is also afflicted by a curse that leaves her in a deep sleep between the gloaming and daylight. How can she begin her tenure as protector when she can’t keep her village safe from whatever stalks its darkest hours? For that, she needs the help of the Hunter.

Against her will, Gabrielle is falling in love all over again. But what new threats will arise when Gabrielle and Isabeau’s star-crossed destinies collide with the beast of Brimmond Wood?

Review:

Two women are heirs to different inheritances, bound to a monstrous threat that plagues their homeland. When Gabrielle, the first woman in the land to become a notorious, faery-slaying Hunter, she’s determined to fulfill her role in killing the monsters that slaughter travelers through the nearby woodland. Desperate to prove herself to her people and feel worthy of the power she’s been granted to do so, the last thing she expects is to be summoned by her lover for a job—especially since the very same woman broke her heart years ago.

Isabeau is a noble, a lady duke, though she wasn’t always. Afflicted by a debilitating curse that sets her into a deep sleep between night and morning, she longs to become a Hunter. However, as she’s unable to protect the village she loves with her curse making it impossible for her to slay the creatures who skulk at night, she figures out the next best way to save them: hiring another Hunter, the Hunter whose heart she shattered.

Against all odds, the women’s romance rekindles as they’re forced to work together to kill the faery beasts plaguing the woods. Even if, the closer they get to each other, the more danger their lives are in.

Marr is not a debut novel, but A Treason of Magic truly felt like a new perspective on fantasy from a newly minted author determined to shake the literary world. This novel was excellent in terms of tension, character dynamics, relationships, plot twists—and so, so much more. Everything that happened earlier in the novel became important later on, which made the twists and turns of the plot even more interesting than they already were.

An example of class amid characterization, Marr built a world that challenges and accentuates her characters in ways that make every breath they take exciting. It’s easy to fall in the love with Gabrielle and Isabeau, and to root for their second chance at romance despite all the bad blood that sits and festers between them.

Punctuated with easy-to-consume, reliable prose, I tore through this novel like a knife through butter. Marr truly knows how to write yearning for the sapphics, and it’s the type of story that fills a slot left empty by time-tested publishing trends. I enjoyed the exquisite execution of the main characters’ queer romance and longed for them to get together throughout the entire story. 

The tension between them was equal parts delicate, fascinating, and alluring, and when the characters drew apart, I found myself demanding they make amends. This novel is jam-packed with tension, not only in its relationship dynamics, but in the mystery of the killer taking out people in the woods that Gabrielle is meant to stalk and defend.

I truly think this story is one of a kind, and that it will inspire many stories like it. I loved everything about it, from the lying characters to the threats they faced both apart and together. I definitely will be looking up what else Marr has written and published, and diving into more of her works!