Entwined by H.M. Long

Book Review

Elloise

Miss Ottilie Fleet knows him to be a smuggler, but she also recognises him to be a mage, from the silver tattoos that adorn his throat, visible in the moonlight. He is dressed in old clothes though, and shows no sign of a Guild ring. Mr Harden turns out to be a mage without a Guild, in a city that would not welcome him. Unlike Ottilie herself, he does not seem to be going to great lengths to conceal his abilities.

Ottilie works for Detective Stoke, and thanks to the help of her betrothed, they are in possession of a magical puzzle box with an arcane symbol map. The sale of such an artifact would be the last she needed to secure herself passage out of Old Harrow and into a new life where she would truly be free of the obligations of her magic and the Guild she has managed to elude thus far.

However; the next morning brings theft and confusion rather than escape. A note from her defiant, globe-trotting sister, a missing artifact, the intimate traces of another magic user, and a trail that seems to lead her back to Mr Harden, place obstacle upon obstacle in the way of Ottilie’s exit strategy. Separatists are attacking the city, the Guild is keen to get their hands on her, her boss has disappeared, and just who can Ottilie trust to help her retrieve the artifact and escape her future?

Entwined is told from a first-person point of view and follows Ottilie’s frantic and at times somewhat madcap attempts at freedom. As a protagonist she is everything we would want – determined, headstrong, and cynical enough to navigate society. There is wit and conflict to maintain interest, and a delicate touch to the descriptive prose and the magic system, which add an appropriate finesse to the worldbuilding.

The chapters are interspersed with extracts from a book familiar to Ottilie entitled ‘The Vigilant Lady Traveller: A Gentlewoman’s Guide to the World’ and flashbacks to her prior interactions with her sisters and fiancé, which are nice touches to add depth to her emotional interactions, and to help the reader more fully understand her choices and actions within the context of the story. Events move at a good pace and, of course, are left hanging enough for the story to continue at the same rate in the concluding part of this duology.