Readers' rating:
Published Oct 2018
352 pages
Genre: Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Speculative, Alt. History
Publication Information
In the face of war and family destruction, a young strega fights to claim her power.
Teodora di Sangro is used to hiding her magical ability to transform enemies into music boxes and mirrors. Nobody knows she's a strega - and she aims to keep it that way.
Then she meets Cielo - and everything changes.
A strega who can effortlessly swap back and forth between female and male, human and animal, Cielo shows Teodora what her life could be like if she masters the power she's been keeping secret. And not a moment too soon: the ruler of Vinalia has poisoned the patriarchs of the country's five controlling families, including Teodora's father, and demands that each family send a son to the palace.
If she wants to save her family, Teodora must travel to the capital - not disguised as a boy, but transformed into one. But the road to the capital, and to bridling her powers, is full of enemies and complications, including the one she least expects: falling in love.
"Starred Review. A delicious and magical intrigue too tempting not to devour." - Kirkus
"Mario Puzo meets Ursula Le Guin in a gender and genre bending tale as lush as it is vivid, and as daring as it is dangerous. The hype is deserved and the magic is real." - Alex London, bestselling author of Proxy and Black Wings Beating
"The Brilliant Death is a mesmerizingly written tale of identity, courage and family, wrapped up in magic that feels both folktale - familiar and enthrallingly innovative." - Alwyn Hamilton, New York Times bestselling author of Rebel of the Sands
"Writing so good it will give you goosebumps, and a story that will sweep you into a wild adventure full of old magic, new love, and dark delight." - Alison Goodman, New York Times bestselling author of Eon and Eona
This information about The Brilliant Death was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Amy Rose Capetta has written several novels for young adults and holds an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from VCFA. She first dreamed of writing about Vinalia when she was younger than Teo. Once upon a time her father's family lived in Italy, in a small town in the mountainside. Now Amy Rose lives in her very own mountains in Vermont, with her partner and their young son.
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