A review by decodethebooks
Kalyna the Soothsayer by Elijah Kinch Spector

4.0

4.25 stars  

★★★★☆

**I was provided with an ARC from Erewhon Books and Netgalley for an honest review**

This book is out now!!

☞ Trigger warnings: **contains spoilers* 

Spoiler

ableism, abusive relationships, alcohol consumption, animal death, banishment, beating, blackmail, blood depiction, body modification, captivity & confinement, chronic medical conditions, child abuse, classism, colourism, conscription, dead bodies & body parts, death of a parent, death of a friend, decapitation, drowning, drugging, emotional abuse, gentrification, grief & loss depiction, gun violence, homelessness, homomisia, hostage situation, indentured servitude, imprisonment & incarceration, infertility themes, intrusive thoughts, kidnapping, knife violence, loss of autonomy, loss of limb, mass murder (attempted), medical treatment, memory disorder, misogyny, murder & attempted murder, persecution for witchcraft, physical abuse and assault, physical injuries, physical medical conditions, poisoning (attempted), poverty themes, queermisia, racism, refugee experiences, regicide, scars, sexism, torture, verbal abuse, war themes & military violence, xenophobia.

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✿ Representation present: queer rep (two main characters are queer), disability rep, poc representation, chronic illness rep.

Kalyna is a con artist. With a degeneratively ill father and an emotionally and verbally abusive grandmother, Kalyna is the sole breadwinner for her family. The fact that she doesn't have the gift of seeing the future doesn't stop her from telling the future to unsuspecting paying customers. Too get by she makes generalisations, she pays informants for information and makes elaborate showings to pull off this long con. If it doesn't come true, then that's fine because she and her family will be gone, off to a new place, conning new people. 

Kalyna is a witty character, with a cynical pessimistic perspective. She has seen the full range of all humanity has to offer through her travels and soothsaying. People have not treated her and her family well. She is always fleeing towns and cities to avoid harassment and persecution for 'witchcraft'. She has been threatened and beaten, bullied and oppressed. Her life is always at risk.

Kalyna goes and gets herself kidnapped (or according to her handler, conscripted) by a Prince. She is tasked with ferreting out the ones looking to harm the royal family with her alleged soothsaying gift. She knows this con will be the riskiest one yet. This should be a cushy job, acting as a fake soothsayer but nothing is ever so simple and being a fake psychic is a lot more demanding especially with her family's lives held against her and the impending end of the world.

Unfortunately, Kalyna's father has also foreseen the end of everything.The four nations will buckle under this impending danger, devolving into a lawless land of destruction with no where safe from its devastation. Kalyna is stuck in a rock and hard place. All she wants is her freedom and to survive what's coming. To do that, she must play ball, act as the soothsayer for the Prince and figure out how to get her family and herself out safely of the Tetrarchia before it all goes to hell.

"What was certainly not comforting was the fact that this job for a sybaritic prince was not going to be the greatest con of my career, but a death sentence. Even without the looming end of the Tetrarchia, there was no freedom on the horizon."

People have not been kind to Kalyna and her family. They have suffered under xenophobic hands that would rather see them all dead and end their family line. Kalyna sees herself as reflected in the common people. They are the ones she is willing to save, not the oppressive upper class. The common people were her people and they didn't deserve to suffer under this impending doom. To save everyone she has to step up, uncover what this mass casualty event her father has foreseen and stop it before it happens.

"The whole Tetrarchia is my people, and I am also a foreigner here.

One of the best qualities of this book is the atmosphere of the self awareness of traditional fantasy stories, particularly political fantasies with its elaborate story lines with complex family trees, and weird name structures. The tongue-in-cheek humour presented in the outrageously long names from the official name for the Tetrarchia and the council of barbarians to the names of people at court and in the history books. This gave a levity to the dark situations Kalyna was entrenched in. Although this book does not take itself too seriously, it sometimes stumbles into its own traps becoming confusing in parts. I love a fantasy map, and this definitely would have been a great book to have not just of the Tetrarchia, but of Rotfelsen. I would have awarded this book double points if it was Kalyna's with her detailed family history on safe locations, hidden roads and campsites she frequents.

The world-building was an interesting aspect of this book as it was set within a tetrarchy - four sovereign states merging into one nation, the Tetrarchia, ruled by a council of four monarchs. It is more of a legal merger than a true unification as the four regions are still very separate, very culturally different.

What surprised me about this book was the commentary - xenophobia, gentrification, homophobia, nationalism, classism, a Manchurian candidate King, fascism and religious fanaticism. It even touches on access to medical care, medical ethics, homelessness, various forms of privilege, and women's rights. These are very heavy themes that are quite relevant today's climate. Many books try and incorporate real issues within their worlds, but to do it well is hard, and can run the risk of isolating or annoying the reader. When we read, most expect a form of escapism, so when authors blend reality with their story, the blend is either seamless or can take you out and potentially ruin your experience. This book blends such important discussions while still being funny, poignant, and piercing.

The first half of this book (Parts 1, 2 and 3) was entertaining. I was entertained! I was enamoured by the political plots Kalyna was trying to navigate. The country of Rotfelsen has so many problems that any one of them could be the flashpoint that leads to the ruination of the Tetrarchia. Kalyna is the optimal person to fish out this conspiracy. She is multilingual, a great liar, an actress and has no emotional investment in the future of Rotfelsen (beside saving them all from certain doom). She was the perfect spy.

"I am a liar, after all."

Parts 4, 5 and 6 when everything was meant to come to a head. It was the crescendo of the book, and it fell flat. I was conflicted. I was absorbed with the story but I found myself repeatedly placing the book down. My expectations from the first three parts were not being met. Ultimately, I trudged my way through Part 6 with fond memories of the first half of this book, questioning where it all went wrong. Kalyna was such a great protagonist, with her conflicting relationship with the truth and with the people she learns to care about. Her frenemies relationship with Lenz was a notable highlight that was so well developed and executed faultlessly.

Unfortunately, I felt the impeding destruction was repeated ad nauseum and became somewhat tedious. I fully understood what was at stake. I understood what was at stake every step of the way. Kalyna's desperate decisions were always because of her knowledge of what the future would potentially hold. The constant repetition felt annoying at times, especially when the reminders were so close together. I was so happy when Kalyna shared her knowledge later one with certain parties, because her shouldering this burden was exhausting for her, and the reader.

Also, when the cause of this impeding destruction was revealed, I wasn't convinced. I expected something else, and the threat didn't feel as earth shattering as it was intended to be. Maybe the hype was too much to have a satisfying pay-off.

"This country will collapse in chaos and war, Kalyna"

The saddest aspect was Kalyna's internalised hatred. The emotional abuse she suffered under her grandmother and her continued inability to access her Gift have seeped in and polluted her perception of herself. The Gift that has spanned her family for generations, and her inability to be a true soothsayer like her ancestors is a constant shadow for Kalyna. She constantly admonishs herself for her supposed failure, and for being the one weighed down with the responsibility to save everyone with a gift she doesn't have. Kaylna never really lets go of this self-hatred, but eventually establishes a semblance of peace with her situation, and I think that is a more realistic depiction. I would have shunned a depiction of a full 180° attitude where she is 100% healed and is a thriving #girlboss.

"Perhaps the Gift is in me somewhere, and instead of being broken I am simply too stupid to access it."

The open ending of this story allows room for possible sequels or a companion novel and I would enjoy another story following Kalyna or the next generation of soothsayers. I wouldn't say I was happy with the way the romance was resolved or Kalyna's choice of partners. I was on board with her choice in continuing her family tradition, rather than settling down but I think either option would have been bittersweet. She would have had to compromise a part of herself either way. Ultimately, I felt the epilogue was too fast, brief, and wasn't very satisfying or worth it. I would have preferred not to have it.

The Romance (or attempt at romance)
Ah, the romance. I am partial to a good romance moment. I love an epic romance that makes me swoon and sweeps me off my feet. I even enjoy the slow understated romance that feels harmonious and serene. If the story has romance, then I am 100% here for it. My one contention is that it has to make sense with the overall story and if it doesn't, I don't want it. Kalyna the Soothsayer had the hallmark of being a great story with no romance. Just a girl conning her way around a court, trying to avoid or prevent the end of the Tetrarchia. I didn't release the was a romantic aspect until the 60% mark. Kalyna is such an eclectic character that I thought she would have possible a few romantic prospects. Was I happy with the way this sub plot was developed? Not really, but I was intrigued all the same. Her love life wasn't a part of the political conspiracy plot, which I liked, and it was just a quiet separate thing that she experienced during her time in Rotfelsen. However, like I had previously stated how her love life was resolved in the epilogue, I did not like. You win some, you lose some.

The structure
The story is told as a memoir. The events have already happened and this is a simple retelling of Kalyna's perspective and her hand in these events. The story is broken up into six parts. Each part has small sections with headings (not chapters) separating the flow of events within the parts. It's an unconventional structure, one that might be disconcerting and possibly contentious for some readers but I don't believe it takes anything away from the overarching story. It makes the story feel much bigger with only six 'chapters'.

It is never explained why Kalyna has written this memoir. Lenz, her boss/mentor/kidnapper is known (and mocked) for writing his own histories, and incorporating his own perspective and theories into these histories, so logic dictates it is a call back to Lenz and his influence. Perhaps it is because Kaylna has a hand in all the kingdom's futures and her journey is influential enough to require a detailed account. Having an explanation on why this story is told in this format and why Kaylna decieded to 'write' this memoir would have been interesting and was a missed opportunity. I would have loved fake intertextual references interspersed in, with the full titles of histories Kalyna has to read and a fake glossary of all the fake texts mentioned. Academic style with footnotes would have gone over well with me.

Despite my reservations on the second half, this book is a great witty political fantasy. The characters were fun, well developed and distinguishable and had distinct motivations that moved the story forward. The structure was unconventional but overall a non-issue. This book makes me want to read more big political fantasies. Political fantasies have a stigma of being inaccessible to people as they can be too far reaching, to complicated and to intellectual. At no point in this book did I feel too dumb or the story too complicated.


Would I recommend this book?
Yes. You love political fantasies like [b:Graceling|3236307|Graceling (Graceling Realm, #1)|Kristin Cashore|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1331548394l/3236307._SY75_.jpg|3270810], [b:The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms|6437061|The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms (Inheritance, #1)|N.K. Jemisin|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1303143211l/6437061._SY75_.jpg|6626657] and [b:Spinning Silver|36896898|Spinning Silver|Naomi Novik|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1513872748l/36896898._SX50_.jpg|58657620].

Will I continue reading this series?
I don't think this is a series. If Spector writes another Kalyna book I might be interested in seeing what chaos she causes next but I think it would depend on if it's a time jump, if Kalyna is no longer a soothsayer or if it's a different (future or past) soothsayer in her family.

Will I re-read this book? 
One day maybe

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