Review: Dark of the West

Dark of the West by Joanna Hathaway
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Although the fancy names and high court manners of this novel may seem daunting to some, this is, more than a historical fantasy or romance, a novel of political intrigue and the ghastly politics of war and power. Aurelia Isendare and Athan Dakar are younger siblings in powerful families. She, a princess of Atania, and he, scion of a military family from Saveant that he doesn't quite feel a part of. They meet at a formal event and he's been told by his father to form an alliance of some sort with her as a spy. A pilot who is mourning the loss of his murdered mother, Athan is drawn to the beautiful Aurelia. To Aurelia, Athan, who is going by his mother's maiden name, is just a handsome young pilot. They spend a summer talking and hiking and occasionally dancing, as her mother Sinora, the Queen of Atania, and his father, General Dakar of Saveant, dance around negotiations of various sorts. The world around them is starting to fray into war, and a powerful figure for stirring dissent is the mysterious figure Seath. Aurelia is troubled by the fact that her mother has apparently promised her in marriage to a much older man, Havis, an ambassador from far away Thurn, and most of all by the fact that she has learned her father, the King, was murdered, and that her mother seems not to have been forthright about a number of things, including the role her Crown Prince brother Reni is to play. Little does she know that her friend Athan is not who he seems to be either. Are both destined to be just as culpable of subterfuge as their parents?

The novel is structured in alternating chapters, giving us the POVs of Aurelia and Athan. I enjoyed this story because of what it has to say to young adults about the politics of war. About who stands to gain, and who stands to lose and lose their right to voice their interpretation of the history of war. A complex novel, both Aurelia and Athan struggle to deal with family designs that would exploit them without being frank about their purpose.

I listened to the audiobook, which was narrated in impeccable accents by Barrie Kreinik and Dan Bittner.

I received a paper Advanced Review Copy of this book from the publisher in 2019.

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