His Secret Illuminations by Scarlett Gale

Title: His Secret Illuminations

Author: Scarlett Gale

Genre: Fantasy, Sword and Sorcery

According to Saricks, “sword and sorcery has a faster pace and unfolds on a smaller scale than does epic fantasy. The subgenre features a swashbluckling adventure plot...a single hero or a small band of fellows, magic, and plenty of sword-wielding action (2019, p. 130). Lucían, the main character, embodies the sorcery while the She-Wolf wields the sword. The reversal of traditional fantasy gender roles adds to the excellence of this book.

Publication Date: October 30, 2020

Number of Pages: 541 pages (eBook)

Geographical Setting: Fantasy European setting

Time Period: Roughly 1500s

Series: The Warriors Guild

Plot Summary:  Lucían was taken in by a monastery as a child, and was raised within its walls. He has no contact with the outside world, spending his days absorbed in illuminating manuscripts in the scriptorium and learning magic. Until one day, a massive blonde warrior smiles at him while visiting with the Abbot. What could she want…?

The Abbot assigns Lucían to journey with the warrior, known as the She-Wolf, as she tracks down three missing books for the Abbot. Lucían’s sheltered upbringing leaves him unprepared for the ways of the world, which is louder and more violent than he is used to. But at least he has the She-Wolf to protect him.

As they track down the missing books, Lucían sees the state of the world, which values the magic he learned at the monastery far higher than what he was taught. It is a grim place that challenges him, but he realizes that the value of friendship and love is worth risking everything.

Content warnings: Religious extremism, vague mentions of child abuse.

Subject Headings: Romance, fantasy, magic, books, adventure, LGBT

Appeal: 

• Character Driven 
• "Interior growth and development of characters is important." (NoveList, 2018). 
• “Story lines also explore ways to discover one's own potential, magical or otherwise.” (Saricks, 2019, p. 124).
• Lucían’s upbringing inside the monastery has left him with sheltered world views, as well as a specific brand of faith that is far less forgiving than one might expect. There are elements of religious fundamentalism to Lucían’s experience in the monastery, and a large part of the novel is watching him unlearn the things he was taught, even as he grapples with right and wrong.
• Romance
• While magic, mystery, and adventure play a massive role in this story, the romance between Lucían and the She-Wolf is just as significant. I would classify it as a slow-burn, as Lucían’s life in the cloister did not prepare him for how to deal with a physical relationship.
• World Building
• These books immerse the reader in vivid imaginary worlds of invented histories, languages, geography, or cultures.  (NoveList, 2018). 
• “These are world-building books. They immerse readers in the virtual reality of place, enabling them to see, hear, and feel the imagined world around them” (Saricks, 2019, p 123).
• The world of the Warrior’s Guild series is, like many fantasy novels, Earth-adjacent. There are languages, such as Italian and Spanish, that crop up within the story, but the setting is clearly not meant to be reality’s Earth. Gale puts forth a lot of effort to describe the setting, immersing the reader in the world she created.
• Explicit
• These books contain lots of vividly described sex, ranging from the plainest (but plentiful) vanilla to the kinkiest of kink (NoveList, 2018). 
• The first book in the series contains sex scenes, which are continued in the next book in the series, though with the introduction of more kink.
• Heartwarming
• These uplifting stories ultimately leave readers feeling emotionally satisfied (NoveList, 2018).
• While it may seem odd to pair heartwarming with explicit when describing a book, Gale really does an excellent job of making the characters endearing. Watching Lucían interact with the world and with other characters is delightful, because of the way he easily accepts everyone, despite his fundamentalist upbringing.
• LBGTQIA diverse
• Identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual, or just questioning, these characters are not stereotypes and are important to the story (even if in a secondary role) (NoveList, 2018).
• While the romance in this book is between a male and female character, there are plenty of LGBTQIA characters present.
• Leisurely paced
• Due to descriptive language, focus on detail, or careful development of character or setting, these books unfold slowly, allowing the reader to savor the narrative (NoveList, 2018).
• “Fantasy novels almost always start slowly as authors carefully establish the elaborately developed locales and multiple characters that create the backbone of their stories. The pace picks up later, when the forces of good engage those of evil, and action and adventure elements play a more important role. (Saricks, 2019, p. 129).
• The first third of the book is fairly slow as Gale builds up the world and characters that she has created. Gale takes the time to establish characteristics that enable the reader to grasp the personalities of Lucían, the She-Wolf, and the Abbot, as well as the environments that Lucían finds himself in. Once the world is more or less established, the pace picks up as Lucían and the She-Wolf travel.

3 terms that best describe this book: Slow-burn, impressive world-building, adventurous

Similar Authors and Works: 

Nonfiction

        

1. Beginning Illumination: Learning the Ancient Art, Step by Step by Claire Travers
• Lucían’s role at the monastery is that of an illuminator in the scriptorium, and this book provides a clear idea of what exactly that entails.
2. Beyond Belief: My Secret Life Inside Scientology and My Harrowing Escape by Jenna Miscavige Hill
• The monastery where Lucían was raised does not, at first, seem all that bad. However, as he journeys into the world and realizes the disparities between his life and those of other people, specifically commoners, he begins to see the negative aspects of his belief system. Without getting into spoilers, suffice to say that the monastery is not far off from religious extremism.
3. Pentiment (video game)
• In this video game, the main character is a master artist who illuminates manuscripts. Along with this element, there are mysteries to solve, relationships to form, and decisions to be made. For an experience reminiscent to that of Lucían, this game offers an exciting world to explore.

Fiction 

        

1. The Knight and the Necromancer by A. H. Lee
• A series featuring a M/M romance, magic and mystery, and an LGBTQ diverse cast of characters.
2. A Marvellous Light by Freya Marske
• Magic, books, and romance are central to this first installment of the Last Binding trilogy by Freya Marske, though it is more Victorian than medieval in setting.
3. The Library of the Unwritten by A. J. Hackwith
• Books are once again central to this story, even to the point of tracking down a missing book that could endanger the world. This book also features magic, mystery, and romance.

My take

I mean, come on. Scrawny Monk gets freed from a suffocating environment by Buff Warrior and then wallows in sexual tension for over half the book. What’s not to love? Beyond the relationship, which is wholesome and affirming and just generally emotionally satisfying, I thoroughly enjoyed that the catalyst of the adventure is stolen books. There is, of course, more to the story than that, but setting off with the goal of recovering books sounds like something I’d enjoy doing myself. Save the books from misuse! Yes, please. The gradual hints and ultimate reveal that the Abbot is a giant piece of shit was also incredibly well done, and I appreciated the way the author handled the Abbot’s religious extremism and abuse. It felt realistic and just horrifying enough to make me share Lucian’s anger, always a sign that an author has succeeded in their writing.

There were many, *many* parts of this book that hit on my litmus test of Things I Enjoy in a Fantasy Novel, and I’ve only touched on some of them. Hopefully you’re intrigued enough to pick it up yourself so that you can come to cherish Lucian and Glory as much as I do.

References

NoveList. (2018). The secret language of books: A guide to appeal. EBSCOHost.

Saricks, J. G. (2019). The readers’ advisory guide to genre fiction. Chicago: ALA