Kalyna the Soothsayer

Spector debuts with a promising fantasy that stumbles a bit in delivery. Kalyna Aljosanovna is widely believed to be next in line to a family of soothsayers in Tetrarchia. But in truth, she possesses none of her clan’s gift and heavily relies on her ailing father’s magic to fake psychic powers for her clients, otherwise “telling customers what is apparent, what they want to hear, and what is deeply vague.” After Kalyna helps a patron evade a deadly ambush, she is abducted by Prince Friedhelm, who wants Kalyna to use her supposed gift to look into the growing turmoil within Tetrarchia. Having no other means to escape the palace, Kalyna must commit fraud on a higher level than ever before, offering fake predictions for Tetrarchia’s royalty. But the longer she feigns divining everyone’s fates, the more deeply entwined she becomes with court politics. Kalyna’s resolve to escape her captors propels the story forward, and there’s plenty of tension and intrigue at court, but exposition bogs down Kalyna’s stilted first-person narration, making the stakes feel low and the peril less than immediate. The premise will draw readers in, but many will grow frustrated by the style. Agent: Hannah Bowman, Liza Dawson Assoc. (July)