Sonata Form

October 26, 2020
Cummings (the Aisling trilogy) delivers a sweet standalone romantic fantasy that’s richly imagined but convoluted. On the one hand is a romance: Milo, a newly minted dragonkin mage, is back from 10 years at school and uncertain of whether his childhood best friend, Ellis, will return his feelings. On the other hand is a labyrinthine political plot involving multiple kingdoms and magical sects. Though the romance is sweet, Milo’s lovelorn navel-gazing bogs down the story’s opening, taking time away from the complex fantasy politics and making events harder to untangle as, amid troubling local developments, Milo’s mother, a notorious military mage, vanishes, and Ellis’s powerful father publicly aligns with the anti-magic Purity Party. The story lurches from tender relationship-building to intra-coven squabbles to world war without enough development to immerse readers in any of it. The endearing love story will draw in Cummings’s fans, but many will struggle with the overstuffed plot.