'Neath the pumpkin patch

Hello!

In typical fashion we had some technical issues yesterday with the new launch, but here we are with a review for The Chosen One Con by Trudie Skies, the first in a new duology. Full disclaimer I was lucky enough to be a beta reader for this one, so this was not my first time reading it – but I love this book, and if I am honest I am still chewing it over.

Magic is a rich man’s game.

Archons control magic in the great city of Aefenhold. Brand-name spells, addictive potions, and celebrity TV keep the poor entertained while they toil in the factories manufacturing magic. That should have been the fate of Max and his childhood friend Lyle, until a violent workers’ strike tears their lives apart, condemning Lyle to the aetherstone mines and leaving Max orphaned with no choice but to sell his labour to a brothel.

Life under the Archon’s rule has given Max a taste for magical narcotics, and left Lyle with aether dust in his lungs and a deep resentment for magic. So when Aefenhold’s rulers announce a televised contest to find the chosen one—a prophesized distraction to unite the city against its detractors—both Max and Lyle see an opportunity to con their way into the contest.

Where Max seeks to steal magic for his freedom, Lyle views magic as a tool of oppression to be destroyed. Their old friendship will be tested as they’re forced to become adversaries against famous rival mages in a series of magical trials. Whoever becomes the chosen one will change the shape of magic forever.

But magic is a rich man’s game, and should Max or Lyle be discovered as frauds, their deaths will be televised next.

‘Why did I have to make money fer some rich twat to justify being alive? I just wanted to enjoy my days with my family, feeling’

Con: something (such as a ruse) used deceptively to gain another’s confidence

The Chosen One Con is both literally what is says in the title, and so much more. Skies has turned magician in this book, because the con, the ruse, the lie, is only one layer (like an onion, but so much more delicious); and nearly every character has a finger in the pie – and those that don’t are in it for the crumbs from the pie. Every time I thought I had a handle on what was happening, and who was dealing what hand, Skies threw me for a loop (along with their own characters), which meant that I couldn’t put this one down. I had to find out the next twist, who was actually behind what… and oh the last bit of this book is the best kind of rollercoaster.

As with their Cruel Gods series, Skies really shines with their worldbuilding. Aefenhold is both a beautiful, detailed setting, but also deeply disturbing – there is something about a world washed in blue to the extent this one is that is very unsettling, and there is no shying away from that. We get to see the glitz and glamour of a Gaslamp world in it’s industrial revolution era, where magic has the power to do so much good, to entertain, to heal, to protect, and for people to aspire too; and then we are dropped into the brutal reality of what that actually means. From the capitalist world that has built up around it, founded on exploitation and marginalisation; to the maintenance of the status quo, and the quiet, ever-building hunger for more – which is very much summed up at the end when secrets are revealed. It was both dizzying and enthralling to be whipped from the gutters to the palace, and back again, and it felt very much like I imagine a Victorian city with a seedy underbelly just one blink away from the trappings of the rich.

One element in particular that I really like is how the magic was handled, both from the variety – potions to spelled items, to pure, imbibed magic, even down to flavourings – but also that it had such a wide range of applications, both practical and impractical. And also, the idea that magic could be used for the good of all, but instead is largely used by the rich minority, to reap in bigger rewards; and how that in turned played into environmental and health issues. As Skies mentioned somewhere this book has a lot less whimsy, although no less magic, and it isn’t hard to see the mirror of real life here, just stripped down and opened wide for the world to see.

What made this book so compelling is that every single person, whether a main character, side character or villain had an element of truth to their argument; even good ole’ Benny. Whether that truth was for the ‘good’ of a single person, or for the system in and around Aefenhold, each and every one thought they had the right of it… at least for a moment. It made their arguments believable, even as it crashed like waves on the shore of reality or another character’s actions and beliefs; and it invested you in what they were doing or attempting to do – even when in many ways they were representing the worst of society. Which is a little too real… but in terms of characterisation it meant I was invested in the good, the bad and the ugly. Apart from Incendio… Screw that guy.

I’m at the point where I can’t actually decide who my favourite it between Max and Lyle – and they both absolutely have moments where I would happily smack them upside the head. Skies is absolutely brilliant at creating messy, multi-faceted characters that can have you tearing your hair out one moment and ripping your heart out the next. Lyle was outspoken and had strongly held beliefs from the beginning, and a burning need to act, to have revenge and to see the world change; whereas Max was much more naïve and integrated into the system, even as he let himself believe he was rising through it. And they were polar opposite in their views on magic; and for a long time, blind to what the other could see. Sometimes wilfully so – or so it felt, but even that was a ruse, because as the con progresses and they are brought together in a crucible between the Archons, the other contestants, the Wrens and the people relying on them, we see them both forced to confront what they truly believe in. What their role in this system is, and what they ultimately want.

And sometimes, the biggest lie is the one they have told themselves.

Also, I am very much here for the second chance romance between Max and Lyle, especially one that is messy and unpredictable. Skies does a fantastic job of building their past, the longing and loss through remembered moments, and the fact that they had both looked for the other. That neither had forgotten what they’d had or how they felt. But what really sold it was that it wasn’t two pieces fitting neatly back together. The attraction. The love. Was very much there, even in the moments when they weren’t sure where the other stood in the competition or how much the other had compromised themselves to get to where they were; but so were the jagged edges of what had separated them, the years spent in different furnaces being tempered into the men they are now. The differences that had been cracks when they were younger and more innocent and blinded by first love, now chasms to be crossed; and Skies makes that crossing utterly believable as they both have to work out what and who they want to fight for.

In terms of secondary characters, every single one was compelling (even if it was too dislike them); but Hope and Archie/Charlie were the ones that stole the show for me. Hope in some ways was a foil to her brother Max, the straight and narrow, to his wilder and more chaotic pathway; and yet they were both so integral to one another, and yet as with everything in this story there were secrets and lies, the two of them playing from different parts of society. Archie in some ways was Lyle’s Hope, especially towards the end, a bond that survived a great deal – and again I loved them, although I have to admit there was a period where I was suspicious of them, before we got to see more of them. (I will absolutely riot if anything (more) happens to either of them). It also feels fitting for the world and the story, that these two secondary characters, from a background that wouldn’t shine in Aefenhold as it was so integral to what happens, and what will happen; which is very grounding after the show and drama of The Chosen One Show.

Thalia was another standout for me, and she was fascinating right from the beginning, and I was thrown for a loop with her so many times – and despised her at points too; and yet at the end there was a moment that really had been rooting for her. And I think that was something with a lot of these characters, and the book as a whole. The Chosen One Show might have been trials to choose the next ‘Archon’ but it ended up being trials, to show everyone involved, even ones on the periphery who they really were. I also found myself ultimately really liking Nightingale, although for the longest time she annoyed the hell out of me, but then Skies flipped the script and it hurt.

The Chosen One Con wasn’t a heist. It was a gauntlet. A lens. And Skies handles both the introspection, the realisations and the fallout in such a way, that you could see and feel how each character got there, sometimes like a gut punch.  

The Chosen One Con is an entertaining thrill-ride with one hell of a body count, yet at the same time it is a compelling, brutal look at capitalism, marginalisation and the cruelty and horrors that dwell in the space between those two complicit bedfellows. Some aspects are out there doing the dirty in the brutal light of day, while others are nuance within nuance. Skies handles both with great skill and has given us a cast of characters that love them or loathe them will stay with you and do a fantastic job of making you see the world through their view – even if that view be tinted blue. I’ve loved all of Skies books so far, but I think The Chosen One Con has absolutely stolen the top spot, and I will be counting down to the second part of this duology.