The Tethered Mage
Melissa Caruso
Paperback $12.08, ebook $4.99
(Prices are current at the time the review is posted and are subject to change.)

The Tethered Mage is the second Gemmell Morningstar Award finalist I’m reviewing.  You can find the first review, for The Court of Broken Knives, here.  (For some reason, the two finalists I didn’t already have copies of when the final ballot was announced were the two I read first.  Oh, yeah, because I  bought electronic copies and could read them on my phone in spare minutes.)

I decided to read The Tethered Mage second because I thought based on what little I knew about it, it would be the one least likely to hold my interest.  I’m very glad to say that wasn’t the case at all. 

Now, don’t misunderstand.  The Tethered Mage isn’t the type of book I read a lot of these days, but after the darkness of The Court of Broken Knives I found it refreshing.  The Tethered Mage is more about court intrigue than combat (although there is some) with a dash of Jane Austen thrown in.  Hey, I heard that, you in the back.  I happen to like Jane Austen.

Anyway, where was I?  Oh, yes.  The story is set in an empire that resembles Renaissance Italy in many ways.  The empire is governed by a doge, and there are canals throughout the imperial city.  The Serene Empire was put together by the city of Raverra as it conquered the surrounding city-states.  Now one of the major city-states is showing signs of restlessness and rebellion.  The doge is not amused.

One of the main military branches in the empire are the Falcons.  These are people who have innate magical abilities.  They are conscripted into service by the placement of a jess on their wrists.  A jess is a magical device that prevents a Falcon from using his or her powers unless their Falconer, a person linked to them for the rest of their lives, says a magic word that releases them to use it.

The central viewpoint character is Lady Amalia Cornaro.  Her mother has a permanent seat on the Council of Nine and is second only to the doge in power.  Amalia is her only heir. So when Amalia agrees to place a jess on an unconscripted  fire mage who has lost control of her power, she doesn’t realize what she’s getting into.  Amalia walked up on a situation in the street and acted out of altruism.  She didn’t realize when she agreed to help the handsome young Falconer officer that she would become a Falconer herself.  You see, nobles aren’t supposed to be Falconers.  Now Amalia is.

Amalia’s Falcon is a young woman named Zaira, who has grown up on the streets.  Her struggle to survive has given Zaira plenty of attitude.  She doesn’t take well to having her freedom taken away, and she definitely doesn’t like Amalia.

None of which will matter if war breaks out.  Zaira will become the most powerful weapon in the doge’s arsenal.  If Amalia can control her.

There are plots and assassination attempts.  Not to mention a rival empire on the other side of the mountains.  There were plenty of intrigues and betrayals to keep things interesting.  Caruso never lets things get stale, and her handling of the plot twists was superb, even if I thought the way Amalia got out of a deadly situation near the end bordered on deus ex machina.

The thing that impressed me most, I think, was how Amalia was portrayed.  There’s been a lot of bloviating on the interwebz in the last decade about the need for strong female protagonists.  I’ve gotten kind of gun-shy of any book where that becomes a marketing point.  Too many of the so-called “strong female protagonists” are merely men with breasts.  Amalia isn’t portrayed that way.  She’s one of the most interesting female characters I’ve come across in a great while.  She’s complex, has depth, courage, wit, a bit of naivete, and a willingness to do the right thing even when it costs her.  To put it another way, Amalia is a fully realized woman and not a caricature.   She’s an example of how a strong female protagonist should be written.

The sequel to The Tethered Mage, The Defiant Heir, is out.  I’m going to try to work it into the queue when I can.