Review: A Conspiracy of Truths

A Conspiracy of Truths by Alexandra Rowland
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book is just a sheer delight. As I told Alex Can Read who steered me to this book, I laughed so often that it was a tonic in these dark times.

A Conspiracy of Truths is about a storyteller and his stories within his larger story, like the famed Arabian Nights or Catherynne Valente's The Orphan's Tales. We have a cantankerous old storyteller who we can call Chant (a title, not a name, and you're not getting a name because for religious reasons he won't tell you so don't bother asking, you insolent cur because it's none of your business) who has been charged with black witchcraft. Well, that and brazen impertinence. (Yes, that's a charge.) Oh, and the espionage charge, because hanging out with pirates and spies, while great for your storytelling archive, is probably ill-advised if you plan to go to Nuryevet. Frankly, I'd really suggest you avoid going to Nuryevet. But, okay, if you're reading this book, you're effectively there. Watch out for the Queens. The Queen of Justice, the Queen of Pattern... wait, Queen of Secrets? (Do Secrets have Patterns?) Then there's the Queen of Order and the Queen of Coin...Wait, no... Queen of Gold? Penny Queen? Dragon Queen? (scary!) These are all mostly elected positions, by the by. And as in any political system there are fights for power, position, dominance, information, and oh, you get it. Poor Chant. They fight over Chant. What does he know? So much, but some of it is embedded in stories. He must be hiding something. Is he a spy? A blackwitch? His public defender Consanza is all but useless, preoccupied, a seeming narcissist. She's never lost a case before the Court of Justice. Will Chant's be the first if she keeps his case? And Yfling, Chant's young and kind apprentice... gosh knows how he will fare in this den of political wolves. Poor boy will probably end in tears. Tears of joy? Tears of relief?

So look, this book is worth your time but just keep your cards close to your chest. Don't mention who you know and spent time sailing with, or anything you might have heard about royalty in other courts, or anything you know about border skirmishes, or really just... just shut up and read. Or listen. Because I waited to listen to the start of the newly released audiobook and it's super.

If you ever wanted a story in which you could imagine a totally snarky character like Elliot from In Other Lands grew up and grew old after visiting all the border and other lands and had a bunch of allegorical stories and intrigue to share, this is your book. And if you don't want to read a story with snarky, cantankerous characters, shame on you! What are you thinking?!

P.S. A Story

Over the summer I attended a WorldCon Kaffeeklatsch hosted by Saga editor Navah Wolfe. Navah described what she was looking for when she looks at submissions. She described a situation in which a book, no matter how weird (you mean like seventy-something snarky and cursing protagonist who is charged with multiple trumped up crimes?) just GRABS YOU. Yep. I see what she means by that...

I received a Digital Review Copy of this book from Saga Press via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.

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