Description
Red Priest to King’s Guard One
Volume One of The Veil of Enitharmon
By Elizabeth Currie
Isa Bell is an apprentice metalworker in the industrial town of Deerby and a member of the moderate Old Believer community, followers of Enitharmon’s monotheist Faith. She thinks her life is mapped out, but everything changes the day the King’s Guard come to town.
The King, a Hard-Line fanatic for Enitharmon, wants to convert mostly-polytheist Ingria to his way. First, though, he wants rid of the Old Believers - and his Guard brutally sacks Deerby. As a woman in men’s clothing doing a man’s job, Isa is doubly in trouble and she has to flee for her life from the Guard.
She finds shelter in the bustling capital of Lislechester but struggles to create a new identity. Before long she is entangled in the political troubles that grow ever grimmer. Can Isa make a new life and stay in Lislechester with her new friends - or will she have to flee again?
* * *
What if classic Hellenistic polytheism had never been overrun by Christian monotheism?
Welcome to Isa's world, where the story takes place in what might be our Victorian times, in a country trying to confront its colonial demons, its political troubles and its slave-holding past.
The story plays out against a background of festivals, Worshipful Companies, military traditions harkening back to classic Sparta, quickening technological developments and social complexities. Whether unfamiliar or instantly recognisable, every aspect of the story’s backdrop feels convincing thanks to the author's meticulous research.
Whether's it's zoology, technology, art, science, local creole languages, regional dialects, religion, culture or fashion: everything feels intensely alive in Isa's world, with many real-life historical references to places, events and people to find for the discerning reader.
This is a story about the all-too-current struggle between those who seek to live a meaningful life, and those who believe that their way is the only way.
As such, it deals at times with difficult topics that the author neither evades nor exploits, but treats with a level-headed 'show, don’t tell' grace.
Human varieties in sexuality and gender expression are handled with the same regard, as is the metaphysical and mythological background. It's a world where magic and technology aren't necessarily mutually exclusive: there are both airships and haunts like White Cats that materialise out of thin air when you need them most; steam road-locomotives and chilling monsters like Boneless in the fog.
Creatures extinct in our world such as spruce-chewer mastodons walk Lislechester’s streets along with ancient city legends who may be real, powerful entities like the King of Rat’s Castle, also known as the Mayor of the better part of the City.
In short: this is a story so compelling and evocative that you won’t be able to put it down.
The veil of Enitharmon
- Part One: Red Priest to King’s Guard One
- Part Two: A Parliament of Rooks
- Part Three: False Knight’s Gambit
- Part Four: An Eclipse of Kings
Part One is available now, the next parts are being typeset and illustrated and will follow in the coming months.
Details
Publisher - BookVAULT Publishing
Author(s) - Elizabeth Currie
Paperback
Published Date - August 16 2023
ISBN - 9781804675991
Dimensions - 21 x 14.8 x 3.2 cm
Page Count - 570
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