The Brilliant Death: 3 ways this YA fantasy will captivate you

Amy Rose Capetta’s The Brilliant Death will cast a spell over you thanks to Teodora and Cielo’s complex world as well as their gifts.

When it comes to YA fantasy, there are a lot of ways that it can go wrong. Amy Rose Capetta, however, has effectively not gone wrong in most ways with The Brilliant Death, out this week from Viking.

Teodora and Cielo, two strega who meet by what seems like chance and find themselves embroiled in the shadowy world of Vinalian politics, have to both deal with the crises external and internal. (Of course, they also have feelings for each other.)

It’s not a perfect book — those are vanishingly rare — but it’s a strong book, one that might just be perfect for any teens or fantasy lovers in your life as we approach the holiday season. Here’s why.

The romance

Both Cielo and Teodora are capable of changing their bodies in order to present as male or female. Although we know Teodora first as a young woman, Cielo changes between those two bodies and other forms with ease. Capetta doesn’t try and assign any specific term to Cielo — this is a novel that takes a lot of nods from Renaissance Italy — but instead has the narration change pronouns to fit whichever form the character’s inhabiting at the time, using the name frequently, and so on. (The best term for Cielo might simply be genderfluid or non-binary.) Ultimately, it is a little awkward, and the book may have simply called for the singular they to be used at points instead of using “the strega” so often.

But the thing is, Cielo and Teodora are attracted to each other in whatever bodies they’re using at the time. At their cores, they realize that they’re still the same people, and their physical bodies certainly are quite attractive (as they retain certain features in both). It’s legitimately lovely to watch their relationship develop.

The magic system

Although Teodora and Cielo share similar abilities, not every strega has the same gifts that they do. Moreover, since a major part of Teodora’s journey in the novel involves getting well-acquainted with her magic, Capetta has a lot of room to explore how magic actually works, and not just from a magical perspective.

After all, science is a major part of Vinalia as well, and so there are certain theories about how strega have their gifts. Of course, the title ties into everything as well. We won’t spoil what “the brilliant death” refers to, as it’s a fairly significant reveal on Capetta’s part, but suffice it to say that it suits the world she’s created.

The politics

As a member of one of five key families, Teodora has been raised to always be loyal to her family first, but those pesky feelings and magical abilities end up complicating things. At the same time, though, the politics don’t fall away or become less important. This is a difficult balance, of course, and it’s worth praising that Capetta strikes that balance, when she’s also trying to tell stories for Teodora and Cielo.

Teodora, especially, is politically adept — and nor does Capetta shy away from talking about the gender politics, although she doesn’t quite interrogate it other than having Teodora note that things are easier when she’s in her masculine form rather than her feminine.

All in all, though, The Brilliant Death serves as a great introduction into a new world, and this writer wouldn’t complain if it showed up in her stocking this year.