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A review by emtees
The Brilliant Death by A.R. Capetta
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
The Brilliant Death is an Italian-inspired fantasy that follows Teodora DiSangro, daughter of a mafia-like family, as she battles political intrigue, unique and creative magic and cultural sexism in her quest to save her family. When her father is poisoned by the Capo, the would-be leader of the united realm of Vinalia, Teo sets out with her brother Luca to find an antidote to the poison and the deal with the political consequences. But while the patriarchal culture of Vinalia means that quiet, studious Luca is automatically seen as the appropriate representative of their family’s interests simply because he is a boy, it is Teo who has studied at their father’s side to understand the politics of the realm and the actions the DiSangros must take to maintain power, and it is Teo who has used her secret magical abilities to protect their family’s interests. So rather than accompany Luca on his journey, Teo is determined to find a way to transform herself into a boy and take her brother’s place. Enter Cielo, a genderfluid strega whose power means he is sometimes a boy, sometimes a girl, sometimes a bird or other creature. Cielo can teach Teo how to take on a male form herself, but in the process of developing a relationship with the other strega, Teo also begins to question the world in which she was raised and the priorities it taught her.
“This face belonged to me. Other people believed it was me, but it could change by tomorrow.
I had already been a screaming baby, torn from her mother too early. An uncertain little girl, watching Father from the shadows. A di Sangro daughter who did not always feel like a daughter but would never be a son. A young woman hiding a knife in her sleeve and magic in her heart.
I was all those things, and I would be more.”
The best part of this book is its handling of gender and gender identity. I am always a little cautious when it comes to explorations of gender identity in a traditional fantasy world, because many authors struggle with handling a modern concept of gender in a world where sex restricts characters to a much greater degree than it does in ours. But Capetta makes a few really smart decision that make their handling of the topic shine. For one, there is more than one character dealing with gender identity issues. Cielo, a strega whose power grants them the ability to change their own body, can look like a boy or a girl for reasons of convenience, but it goes much deeper than that - whether by their own nature or because of their power, Cielo feels like both a boy and a girl. A genderfluid identity is inherent to who they are. As they say, they think to restrict themselves to one thing would be intolerable. Teo, on the other hand, has a different attitude, which brings me to the other smart thing Capetta is doing - they are engaging directly with the trope of the girl who disguises herself as a boy to have adventures or escape sexist restrictions on their freedom, a trope with a very long history in fantasy that is rooted in a rejection of patriarchy but also has resonance for trans and nonbinary readers. Teo is a character who would probably describe herself as “a girl, but not just a girl.” Some of her discomfort with her female gender identity is rooted in cultural reasons - she wants her father’s respect, she wants to be able to take her place as a member of her family with more to offer than just marrying and having children. But in other places it is clear that her identity, too, goes deeper than convenience - early on, she mentions how much she loves her masculine nickname (Teo is a boy’s name), and while she never embraces her ability to change her body physically into that of a boy the way Cielo does - it is clear that her female body always remains the one that feels most her - she nonetheless does come to see that form as also hers, and to love the way it allows her to transcend the limits of female identity. These differences of experience between Cielo and Teo, as well as the acknowledgement that Teo is both living in a sexist society and desires a more fluid identity for reasons that go beyond sexism, made Capetta’s handling of a “magical transgender” story feel more believable than most.
There were other things I liked about the book. The magic system was interesting, though we clearly don’t know everything about it yet. The world, though clearly very heavily based on historical Italy, is rich and interesting. I liked most of the characters and thought they were fleshed out well. Teo is an excellent protagonist. I love how ruthless she was; for all that she was a somewhat sheltered country girl, while Cielo was the independent traveler, it was Teo who felt like the harder character and Cielo who seemed softer and more vulnerable. The way they each developed, and the influence they had on each other, really got me invested in their relationship. Sometimes when you have a POV protagonist who is going to go through a radical change in their worldview over the course of the story, the love interest can get annoying because it seems like they are just there to facilitate that change. But Cielo changed just as much due to their journey and their relationship with Teo and I liked that.
Unfortunately there were a few things that pulled down the book for me. While the prose was mostly serviceable, it got muddled and confusing at times. In particular, Capetta seemed to struggle with the most emotionally intense sceneslike Luca’s death or the big confrontation between the Capo and Cielo ; I think at times they were going for a shocked/numb reaction from Teo but it often felt like the emotion of these scenes was just missing completely. And a lot of the backstory and magical worldbuilding seemed like it was explained in the most confusing way possible. I hope some of that will be improved on in the sequel.
“This face belonged to me. Other people believed it was me, but it could change by tomorrow.
I had already been a screaming baby, torn from her mother too early. An uncertain little girl, watching Father from the shadows. A di Sangro daughter who did not always feel like a daughter but would never be a son. A young woman hiding a knife in her sleeve and magic in her heart.
I was all those things, and I would be more.”
The best part of this book is its handling of gender and gender identity. I am always a little cautious when it comes to explorations of gender identity in a traditional fantasy world, because many authors struggle with handling a modern concept of gender in a world where sex restricts characters to a much greater degree than it does in ours. But Capetta makes a few really smart decision that make their handling of the topic shine. For one, there is more than one character dealing with gender identity issues. Cielo, a strega whose power grants them the ability to change their own body, can look like a boy or a girl for reasons of convenience, but it goes much deeper than that - whether by their own nature or because of their power, Cielo feels like both a boy and a girl. A genderfluid identity is inherent to who they are. As they say, they think to restrict themselves to one thing would be intolerable. Teo, on the other hand, has a different attitude, which brings me to the other smart thing Capetta is doing - they are engaging directly with the trope of the girl who disguises herself as a boy to have adventures or escape sexist restrictions on their freedom, a trope with a very long history in fantasy that is rooted in a rejection of patriarchy but also has resonance for trans and nonbinary readers. Teo is a character who would probably describe herself as “a girl, but not just a girl.” Some of her discomfort with her female gender identity is rooted in cultural reasons - she wants her father’s respect, she wants to be able to take her place as a member of her family with more to offer than just marrying and having children. But in other places it is clear that her identity, too, goes deeper than convenience - early on, she mentions how much she loves her masculine nickname (Teo is a boy’s name), and while she never embraces her ability to change her body physically into that of a boy the way Cielo does - it is clear that her female body always remains the one that feels most her - she nonetheless does come to see that form as also hers, and to love the way it allows her to transcend the limits of female identity. These differences of experience between Cielo and Teo, as well as the acknowledgement that Teo is both living in a sexist society and desires a more fluid identity for reasons that go beyond sexism, made Capetta’s handling of a “magical transgender” story feel more believable than most.
There were other things I liked about the book. The magic system was interesting, though we clearly don’t know everything about it yet. The world, though clearly very heavily based on historical Italy, is rich and interesting. I liked most of the characters and thought they were fleshed out well. Teo is an excellent protagonist. I love how ruthless she was; for all that she was a somewhat sheltered country girl, while Cielo was the independent traveler, it was Teo who felt like the harder character and Cielo who seemed softer and more vulnerable. The way they each developed, and the influence they had on each other, really got me invested in their relationship. Sometimes when you have a POV protagonist who is going to go through a radical change in their worldview over the course of the story, the love interest can get annoying because it seems like they are just there to facilitate that change. But Cielo changed just as much due to their journey and their relationship with Teo and I liked that.
Unfortunately there were a few things that pulled down the book for me. While the prose was mostly serviceable, it got muddled and confusing at times. In particular, Capetta seemed to struggle with the most emotionally intense scenes
Content Warnings
Minor: Homophobia