Echo of the Evercry

by E J Dawson

The cost of magic has never been clearer.

Larissa's inability to kill is a disgrace to her absent mother, Sword Matriarch of the Fair Lady's order, a sisterhood whose purpose is to hunt down sorcerers corrupted by the Evercry and slay them. But Larissa hides an even more sinful secret: she is drawn toward magic, and it grows stronger in her every day.

Larissa keeps a stranglehold on her gift until the day of her graduation test, when her misuse of magic leads her to failure. Prepared to be cast out of the sisterhood, she is instead brought into the scorned caste of the darkkins, those who study and wield magic in the fight against the Evercry. In their halls she discovers that her proclivity for magic makes her powerful, and a little dangerous.

Gone for years, her mother suddenly sends word that she needs help to defeat a formidable sorcerer, help only Larissa can give. Larissa will do anything to save her mother, even travel with the girl who bullied her all through school. But as they battle monsters and mercenaries, Larissa must grapple with dark truths about the sisterhood and her heritage, and decide who she can really trust with her mother's fate...and her own.

• ISBN10: 1956615156
• ISBN13: 9781956615159
• Publish Date: 1 July 2023
• Publish Status: Active
• Imprint: Literary Wanderlust
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 328
• Language: English

Reviews

[Vanity Cassel]

Echo of the Evercry is a new-adult epic fantasy novel that follows the heroine, Larissa Westwyn, who is in pursuit of truth about her heritage, the sisterhood she confides in, and her own significance.

The day of Empirical in Lathore has come — their final graduation test against four elemental embodiments — and Larissa is anxious of what might befall her. Still, when she has fallen to the ground failing to catch victory, she never expects what comes after her fight: a task to deliver an essential artifact with Valare Atticus, who is her archenemy. Together they wade through alarums and excursions, battling with doubts and vicious agents of darkness, until all is but restored due to an unforeseen reality about their enemy, unfolding jarring truth to the order of sisterhood. However, in light of someone who cannot be what they've been telling she should be, Larissa finds this revelation revolting, even more so to the cusp of defying their grand matriarch.

Our main heroine and narrator, Larissa, is very well-written & deeply flawed; this being the case tugs my heart closer to hers than most. Her development, without a doubt, is the most prominent of all. I have witnessed it in the way she reclaims her own image. She is beautiful and profound, who got better than ever, and this kind of a character will surely invoke inspiration to readers. Aside from that, I can't help but admire the way of writing as well. It has a balance of being precise and metaphorical, its word choice felt like balsam to my brain — a combo of careful narration and detail-sensitive that isn't confusing.

Overall, what a fetching read! I definitely enjoyed the first page until the last. It is set in an epic world where the taint of Evercrys looms, a world founded by matriarchy, enhanced with valorous women in knighthood, starred by a pair of lesbian heroines and a ruler-to-be ally, combating cursed sorcerers altogether. Thus, if you happen to be: sapphic, feminist, a neurodivergent who yearns for a sense of belonging, or simply a reader who values women-dominated world in fantasy, then I recommend this book to you. Such a story deserves to be in a row with other beautiful books because in this riveting anticipated work, E.J. Dawson shows us how it is to wield certainty against doubts, and to discover that one's fear to face the unknown is power in itself.

I received a digital ARC from the author in exchange for honest feedback. All opinions are my own and willingly given.