The Ranger of Marzanna

Starred review from February 3, 2020
Skovron (Empire of Storms) launches his Slavic-influenced Goddess War series with this intricate, well-told fantasy. Sixteen-year-old Sebastian Turgenev Portinari has a rare talent for elemental magic, but his skills are inhibited by his father’s efforts to keep them a secret from the ruthless Aureumian Imperial Army, who recently conquered their homeland of Izmoroz. Sebastian’s sister, 18-year-old Sonya, is hiding her own secrets from the empire: she’s the last of the renowned Rangers of Marzanna, the devoted disciples of the Goddess of Winter, who the empire believes it exterminated. Where Sebastian is immature, sensitive, and vulnerable to the influence of others, Sonya is devoted to her relationship with the goddess and determined to reclaim Izmoroz from the Aureumian invaders. After imperial soldiers kill their father, the siblings are transported to the capital city, where Sebastian is conscripted into the army and persuaded by volatile Cdr. Franko Vittorio to use his powers in service of the empire, setting him and Sonya on a collision course. Both perspectives are depicted with depth and nuance, making the inevitability of their confrontation all the more painful. Skovron does an admirable job balancing large-scale and interpersonal conflicts, and strong supporting characters and cultural specificity add texture. This is epic fantasy done right. Agent: Jill Grinberg, Jill Grinberg Literary.

February 15, 2020
The first installment of the new adventure fantasy trilogy from Skovron (Blood and Tempest, 2017, etc.) revolves around two siblings who find themselves on opposite sides of a looming war. It's been years since the Aureumian Empire effectively conquered the impoverished nation of Izmoroz, but Sonya Turgenev Portinari--a ranger from a presumably defunct group of supernatural warriors who are devotees of Marzanna, the Goddess of Winter and Death--has vowed to get the empire out of Izmoroz so that her oppressed people can worship the Lady freely again. When she discovers that imperial soldiers killed her father and abducted her mother and younger brother, Sebastian, she is shocked to realize that her brother--who is a powerful elemental mage--has enlisted in the imperial army and is using his magical ability to further the empire. With only a young apothecary named Jorge accompanying her, Sonya--who is slowly being transformed into a foxlike deity of sorts by Marzanna--sets out to gather allies in her fight against the empire. As Sonya finds support in the unlikeliest of places, Sebastian's life is complicated when he falls in love and is betrothed to a woman named Galina. But as his love for her intensifies, so does his duty to the empire--and he soon finds himself using his power to kill. Although the worldbuilding is solid, the action is nonstop, and Skovron's overall character development is exceptional (especially when it comes to the female main characters, who are all brilliantly multidimensional and identifiable), the one major weakness is the portrayal of Sebastian, whose staunch idealism and naiveté through much of the novel are both irritating and improbable, especially considering the fact that empire soldiers murdered his father. An undeniable page-turner that will have readers salivating for the next volume of this projected trilogy.

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