The Sapling Cage

Killjoy (Escape from Incel Island) gender-bends an old-fashioned fantasy of witches, knights, and brigands in the intriguing if uneven first book of her Daughters of the Empty Throne trilogy. A rot called the colddead decimates the forests of Cekon, bringing famine and unrest, and it’s up to an ancient order of witches to stop it. But armies of knights allied to the ruthless Duchess Helte, who covets Cekon’s vacant throne, spread malicious rumors that the witches are to blame for the blight and begin a merciless hunt that threatens to ruin Mother’s May, the springtime holiday when witches go door-to-door gathering new “whelps” to train in the arts of war, diplomacy, and magic. Trans teen Lorel yearns to join the Order but worries the sex she was assigned at birth will prevent her. When the order comes for her best friend, Lane, Lorel dons Lane’s clothes and takes her place. Petrified the coven will discover her secret, Lorel keeps her distance from her peers as the witches, favoring weapons over spells, train the whelps to fight and unravel the mystery of the colddead. Killjoy conjures an abundance of song and ritual as this sacred order fights for its survival, but the sword-clashing muffles Lorel’s inner turmoil, making it hard to connect to this swashbuckling story on an emotional level. Still, there’s plenty of potential here. (Sept.)