This book may feel familiar to readers who have encountered other middle grade and YA adventures set in a world where survivors from a great war are trying to establish safe places to exist. Some of those stories deal with toxic areas poisoned by chemicals, vast wastelands blasted by magic, zombies or other monsters (either purposely created or mutated after exposure to weapons used in the battles), and various other hazards. There may be groups still hanging onto old conflicts and refusing to let the past die, or even pockets of people who don't know that the war ended.
The story of the townspeople of Vittoria has some of those tropes. There are the rules that keep everyone within the walls during the hours between the sunset and sunrise bells. The Council keeps everyone aware of how lucky they are to have survived and to have the safety of the walls and the rules. There are the monstrous Ferox outside the walls to prevent anyone from travelling beyond sight of the town.
The monsters seem a bit like golems - constructs powered by magic and assembled from various materials. Different people work with magic in different ways; some use water from the river Nyx, others bind magic into weapons to destroy the Ferox, others use it to heal. It adds a layer of complexity to the world-building which also makes the internal logic stronger; different groups would have different approaches and priorities. As a former Latin major I was also caught by the familiarity of many of the names in the book - Octavia, Augusta, Flavia, Agrippina, Ursa, Ira...
The characters are interesting and conflicted. Octavia and Sima are especially brave and sympathetic. Octavia lives in Vittoria and is dealing with the loss of her sister to the Ferox. Sima is part of a caravan attacked while it is travelling past the town. Together these two girls must challenge what the Council decrees, what their parents expect, and what they fear the most. Their struggle brings up many questions. How much of the history we are taught is objectively true and how much is what our elders want to believe (or want us to believe)? Should we let fear set limits on what we accomplish in life? Is it wrong to be kind and trust others?
Highly recommended for middle grade fantasy adventure fans. I read an advance copy provided by the publisher for review purposes. The book was just released on April 26 - so you can find it in stores now. And there is still plenty of this world that could offer other stories to come, just saying.
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