A Fragile Enchantment
by: Allison Saft
January 2, 2024, Wednesday Books
384 pages
Review by: E. Broderick
It will come as no surprise to readers of this blog that I enjoy clothes and fashion. By extension, I’m usually a fan of books featuring thread or cloth magic. Therefore, I was excited to learn that A Fragile Enchantment, a YA second world fantasy from Allison Saft, has a heroine named Niamh who possess the gift of sewing memories and emotion into fabrics. Much like Safts last book, A Far Wilder Magic, I was unable to obtain a review copy from the publisher. Luckily, this doesn’t tend to deter me. It simply means I’m a few months late on the review for having to rely on the library (shout out to the three wonderful library systems I belong to!).
Niamh technically lives in a secondary world, but her home country Machland, very much felt like a fantasized version of Ireland to me. She is hoping to make her fortune by sewing the wedding garments of a Prince of Avaland – a country that felt like a thinly veiled England and from which Machland has only recently gained independence after a bloody and costly war. The Machlish make up a large portion of the servants in the homes of Avlish gentry and they are starting to resent their bad treatment. Together with a member of parliament, they are organizing to push for not only better treatment, but also for reparations after the use of Avlish magic on Machlish soil caused a famine.
Niamh struggles deeply with whether or not her working for the royal family is a betrayal of Machland, but in the end she feels the need to provide for her family justifies the job. Furthermore, she is living with an unspecified medical condition that felt vaguely rheumatological to me, which sometimes results in early death. Since Niamh doesn’t know how much time she has left, she wants to earn as much as possible to set her family up to survive without her, even though using her magic appears to trigger the condition on occasion.
To make matters worse, the Prince in question-Kit- is not interested in Niamh’s services. He is also not interested in his bride, Infanta Rosa, who hails from a thinly disguised Spain. Good news – the feeling is mutual. Rosa is not really interested in him either. They’re both going through with this marriage because they think it is their duty, as countless royals have done before them – but all is not right in Avaland, as a gossip columnist named Lovelace insinuates in their columns.
In predictable fashion, the prince falls for the tailor and everything goes to hell in a hand basket, but somehow manages to be salvaged in an ending that is pleasantly optimistic even if it feels a little too easy. The Jewish rep comes in the form of Infanta Rosa’s chaperone and ladies maid Miriam who feels very much like a sephardic Jew being given a special dispensation to live in an inquisition happy country. We meet her briefly, but it is enough to get a handle on the situation.
Much like Saft’s prior work, A Fragile Enchantment is full of fast paced action at the end and a bevy of queer characters. The pacing is solid. However, unlike A Far Wilder Magic, this book felt to me like it did not fully deliver on the cover copy promises, making me wonder if the person who wrote it had actually read the book. In addition, Infanta Rosa’s characterization seemed to shift wildly from the beginning to the end of the book and not because she experienced personal growth or change. Most of all, the red herrings regarding the identity of Lovelace were extremely thin and I was able to spot the gossip columnists true identity almost immediately. On top of that, I kind of wished the secondary world was more than just this world but with a little magic and a new set of royals in it. That last one is just my taste as a reader – I favor heavy lifting when it comes to secondary world building.
So why am I writing this review and still recommending the book? The romance aspect is fantastic! It’s a really steamy slow burn, enemies to lovers and anyone looking to figure out how to make those tropes work could use this novel as a textbook. The relationship building was deftly handled and had an exquisite pay off. A Fragile Enchantment is a higher heat book for a YA, so readers should know themselves and make their own decision about whether they want spice in a YA. I enjoyed it, but I’m not a young adult, and I’m aware that there is a wide spectrum in what those readers are looking for. I don’t like to put my own expectations on them.
Much like Niamh’s magic, a novel should ideally make the reader feel something. For me, A Fragile Enchantment was all about longing. I felt that yearning from page one and again in a variety of areas of the plot. So if your heart is ready to pine, this is the book for you.