07/04/2022
An aspiring alchemist faces multiplanar pandemonium in Evans’s energetic epic fantasy debut, which stands out for never taking itself too seriously. “Interplanar errand boy” Siyon Velo spends his days delving into different planes of existence to retrieve alchemical ingredients for the city of Bezim’s magical elite while maintaining an impossible dream of one day being a trained and certified alchemist himself. A chance to prove himself arrives when his new friend Zagiri Savani falls from a clock tower and he improvises an unpolished—and very public—magical rescue, resulting in a burst of inexplicable, unlicensed magic that lands him at the top of Bezim’s most wanted list. Meanwhile, the planes have been thrown out of balance, and external powers claw for control over Bezim’s plane, the Mundane. To restore the balance, one of the Mundane’s alchemists must rise above the others to become the Power of the Mundane. But as many try and fail, it becomes clear that only Siyon has ever harnessed enough magic to earn the title—albeit entirely accidentally. Evans trusts readers to untangle the rules of her expansive world with minimal exposition, which may prove disorienting to some, but the witty prose, endearing characters, and sense of playful whimsy throughout keep the pages turning. This is a charmer. Agent: Kurestin Armada, Root Literary (Sept.)
"Very rarely do I read a fantasy city so wondrously realized as Bezim. From the razor-sharp social climbing to the glimmering alchemist's library to the hidden realms beneath it all, I loved getting lost in this dazzling debut." —Shannon Chakraborty, author of The City of Brass
"A delightful and fast-paced ride full of flashy swordplay, high society, and thrilling magic. Reading Notorious Sorcerer made me feel like I was ten years old again and discovering adventure fantasy for the first time. Sheer, glorious fun!"—Freya Marske, author of A Marvellous Light
"A brilliant alchemical recipe! Notorious Sorcerer is a delicious melange of my favourite things, remixing historical magic with class consciousness. I couldn't put it down."—Olivia Atwater, author of Half A Soul
“Notorious Sorcerer feels like a dream you don’t want to wake from, with beautiful and broken people chasing elusive magic along a knife’s edge in a beautiful and broken city. I devoured it and want more!"—Melissa Caruso, author of The Tethered Mage
"Notorious Sorcerer has everything I want in a fantasy novel: a picaresque hero to make my heart sing, a refreshingly new kind of magic, and a waggish sense of humor. If you like a healthy dollop of rollicking fun with your epic fantasy, this is the book for you."—Megan Bannen, author of The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy
"Notorious Sorcerer is a real delight, with compelling characters and wonderful worldbuilding that sucks the reader in and keeps them engaged from beginning to end."—Mike Brooks, author of The Black Coast
“Notorious Sorcerer is a firework of a fantasy novel: vibrant, explosive, deliciously dangerous, and impossibly fun. A must-read debut.”—Tasha Suri, author of The Jasmine Throne
"[An] energetic epic fantasy debut...the witty prose, endearing characters, and sense of playful whimsy throughout keep the pages turning. This is a charmer." —Publishers Weekly
"Intricate and fascinating — I would eagerly read more tales of the city of Bezim."—Marie Brennan, author of The Memoirs of Lady Trent series
"Evans’s debut is a high fantasy full of excellent worldbuilding, with an enjoyable magic system and strong characters."—Library Journal
"Notorious Sorcerer’s unique magic system adds to this delightful fantasy setting, leaving readers eagerly anticipating the next book in the Burnished City series."—Booklist
"A whimsical tale...Set in an expansive magical world that crosses multiple planes of existence, Notorious Sorcerer doesn’t get bogged down in heavy exposition or take itself too seriously, instead trusting its readers to both keep up with its fast-paced story and laugh while they do it."—Paste Magazine
"Davinia Evans' debut fantasy deploys genre tropes with delirious glee and builds a rich and fascinating world readers will be eager to return to."—BookPage
08/01/2022
DEBUT Siyon Velo lives in Bezim, where alchemy is illegal to everyone except those with enough money and power to talk their way out of trouble. Siyon runs errands to the different planes of existence to get the practitioners' alchemical supplies. One day he performs an unexplainable public act of sorcery in the town square and sets in motion a series of events that only he can fix. The story offers a rich lore of alchemy that fantasy fans will enjoy learning alongside Siyon, and the city of Bezim feels incredibly fleshed out in its politics, social systems, and history. This book also has some wonderfully strong female characters in sisters Zagiri and Anahid, and a wonderful M/M romance that will leave readers longing for the next book in the series. VERDICT Evans's debut is a high fantasy full of excellent worldbuilding, with an enjoyable magic system and strong characters.—Carleigh Obrochta
In this debut fantasy, the first installment of the Burnished City trilogy, Kirsten Foster has a broad cast of characters to bring to life. Using a variety of accents, she distinguishes characters and their classes in a highly stratified society. The main character, Siyon, yearns to be an alchemist, but he's reaching far above his station. So, using his natural talent, he jumps between planes of existence to gather raw materials to sell to the alchemists. In the process, he makes a discovery that may prove to be the salvation of their world. Foster brings a lot of personality to Siyon, and to the three secondary characters who have wealth and privilege. She establishes a fast pace, contributing to the story's suspense. J.E.M. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine
In this debut fantasy, the first installment of the Burnished City trilogy, Kirsten Foster has a broad cast of characters to bring to life. Using a variety of accents, she distinguishes characters and their classes in a highly stratified society. The main character, Siyon, yearns to be an alchemist, but he's reaching far above his station. So, using his natural talent, he jumps between planes of existence to gather raw materials to sell to the alchemists. In the process, he makes a discovery that may prove to be the salvation of their world. Foster brings a lot of personality to Siyon, and to the three secondary characters who have wealth and privilege. She establishes a fast pace, contributing to the story's suspense. J.E.M. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine
2022-07-13
An untrained magician assumes the mantle of unlikely hero.
Siyon makes his living delving into magical planes to harvest rare materials for the alchemists of Bezim, the only city in the world where interplanar travel is possible. After he trades away a phoenix feather to a well-connected young man who promptly disappears, Siyon must find a way to recover the missing boy or face banishment or execution. Meddling with the planes in this way carries the risk of shifting them dangerously out of alignment, which might have set Evans' novel up for an intense climax were it not for a dearth of information about the story's most vital aspects, including magic, local laws, international politics, race, and class. Centuries of esoteric laws and theorems govern alchemy and sorcery, but the novel does not explain how these magical systems function or the ways in which they differ, both in law and in practice. Bezim's biased legal system favors the azatani and oppresses both foreigners and the bravi, but we never learn whether azatani and bravi refer to races or social classes. In fact, azatani seems to mean both a race and a social class, although we're left in the dark regarding how the oft-referenced "tiers" of azatani—with their names all ending in -ani—organize themselves. Furthermore, it is possible to be both azatani and bravi without being mixed-race. That Evans leaves these concepts obfuscated via glaring omissions precludes readers' basic understanding of how Siyon's world works. The novel's most interesting subplots are two romances—one hinted at, one consummated, and both queer—but neither reaches a satisfying conclusion.
Half-explained political dynamics and magical laws mar an otherwise passable fantasy outing.
