I have made it no secret how much I adore the work of Eleanor Rose, August Oliver, and Chase St. Clare. Pledge and Paragon were two of my favorite reads this year, so I had high hopes for Dominion of Magic. And let me tell you, I was not disappointed. It had everything modern fantasy fans could want: morally gray villains, a race-across-the-clock adventure, and complex characters.
However, what I loved the most about this book was its a study of trauma-led decision-making, which makes all sides of this conflict understandable. Bea is a survivor of the Salem Witch Trials, which in the lore of the novel was run by dark witches using the mob mentality to kill the witches in their coven who disapproved of dark magic. She watched her mother be murdered before she was saved, giving her a lifelong hatred of users of dark magic. In addition, her Puritanical roots show through the way she only sees the world in black and white, refusing to see nuance or believe anyone who has a different opinion could be correct. On the other hand, we have Eiren. His magic was quite literally born out of trauma, with him immediately feeling a call to the dark. While the only time the narrative is in his voice is in the prologue, you can see how that event shaped the villain he became - and there are times when his smooth persuasion to embrace dark magic makes the most sense. Lysette's trauma is much more recent, coming from discovering her husband, Eiren, was experimenting with dark magic and being forced to expel him from the coven. Lysette, like Eiren, also has a call from the dark - something she worked hard to overcome as a child. As a result, she wants more than anything for her husband's redemption, even if she has no idea what he is actually up to. The way the three of them each have their trauma guide and blind them creates a fascinating story, as each of them wants Hecate's ring for a completely different purpose.
The majority of the plot follows the race for the mythical ring of Hecate - said to have bound the goddess of magic's powers. It's believed anyone who can activate and use the ring will be able to pull all the witches of the world into one coven and control them. And that kind of power? Well, it's tempting for just about anyone. I appreciated the plot to find the ring allowed people to see the different views about using (or not using) its power. The ethics of power created a very interesting theme within the novel - one I don't think is touched on enough in fantasy, as many people will go on quests to find a magical item with immense power, but few will actually think about the consequences of using it. I look forward to the sequel furthering this discussion and thought process, especially as a few of the twists will make the stakes of using it even higher.
Another thing I truly loved about this book was the worldbuilding. I personally love the idea of magical societies living in our world without our knowledge, it's one of my favorite tropes when reading urban fantasy. The way the authors could slip these covens into the regular world was in a way that was easy to understand and fully made sense. In addition, because of magic users' extremely long lifespans, we got to see multiple flashbacks to different points in time that only added to understanding the layers of all the relationships between the characters. When characters live for hundreds of years, they have rich lives and histories, and instead of hand-waving this away, the authors smartly showed us exactly what it means to be near-immortal. And I think this plays very much into this book's strengths, as some of the intrigue we see has played out over centuries.
Overall, this book is a fascinating read leading to so many dramatic twists at the end that left my jaw dropped multiple times. It is full of magical intrigue and centuries of drama, making it a read worthy of spooky season. And as the first chapter of the sequel has been released on the Finch Benson website, I know for sure I will be counting down the days for it to come out.
Dominion of Magic is available through Amazon.