Description: Silent wars leave the most carnage. The wars that are never declared, but are carried out in dark alleys with masks and hidden knives. Wars where color power alters the natural rhythm of 17th century London. And when the king calls for peace, no one listens until he finally calls for death. But what if death finds him first?
Keepers think the Igniters caused the plague. Igniters think the Keepers did it. But all Thomas knows is that the Stone Plague infecting his eye is spreading. And if he doesn’t do something soon, he’ll be a lifeless statue. So when his Keeper father, Guy Fawkes, invites him to join the Gunpowder Plot—claiming it will put an end to the plague—Thomas is in.
The plan: use 36 barrels of gunpowder to blow up the Igniter King.
The problem: Doing so will destroy the family of the girl Thomas loves. But backing out of the plot will send his father and the other plotters to the gallows. To save one, Thomas will lose the other.
No matter Thomas’s choice, one thing is clear: once the decision is made and the color masks have been put on, there’s no turning back.
My Thoughts: When I found out that this was based on historical events, I decided that I did not want to research those events beforehand. For me, it was a rare occurrence where the historical events and characters were ones which I had never heard of, even in passing, and I wanted to see how well the story held up if I did not already have some background knowledge to fill in the gaps. Which, when it came to a fantasy version of events, might not have been the best approach. As a history lover, I spent a good portion of the novel trying to figure out who the Igniters and Keepers correlated with in real life and whether or not the author was unwittingly or otherwise making some sort of political or religious statement cloaked in magic.
Or then again, maybe the author just took an interesting historical event and decided to make the survivors her good guys (is that a spoiler? I don't know, I guess is depends on how much you know about the actual Gunpowder Plot).
That said, I do believe that there was a religious backdrop to Nadine's magic system and the way that her characters approached the use of it. And it was an interesting magic system. I cannot think of many other novels, and certainly none that I have read, where color was the bases for how the magic worked. It allowed for a new way of interaction with the characters' sensory input when the colors had sounds and personalities that even someone who is blind could utilize. Also, the reliance on their masks in order to call upon these colors kept the magic system from being overly powerful. Yet there were some holes in how the magic worked and the logic with which many of the characters approached it. I think what bothered me the most with this was how the Keepers insisted that the White Light would guide them, but also that they could not speak with it because it was a force that would pollute their minds and cause them to lust after power.
Outside of the magic, Nadine presents a cast of characters which is welcomely diverse. The main character, you find out in the first couple pages, is blinded in one eye from a plague that would leave him a social outcast if found out. Along with that, there is also a heroine who stands strong on her own without needing to rely on the hero. Coupled with this are a number of minority characters, one of whom plays a significant role.
What probably makes Fawkes stand out from most of the other books I have read recently is simply the sheer amount that I found to be worth discussing after reading it. Normally, a review of mine would have ended two paragraphs ago, and I still feel like there is more that I could have mentioned from this novel. While I definitely still see the holes, Nadine's work has pushed on subjects and taken chances that few novels traditionally published in the CBA market ever have. And though books published under the Blink imprint are far from explicit with their Christian content, I think that Nadine did a great job of weaving it into her story.
I have provided an honest review after having received an eARC from the publisher through Netgalley.
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