BLACKWICKET

In Northwick’s series starter, a woman with inherited magical powers knows that she is dangerous; she just hopes that she’s powerful enough to save the people she loves.

After leaving home at 16, after her mother disappeared to a magical place called the Dark Hall, Eleanora “Ellie” Blackwicket has lived in hiding for the past decade to avoid being identified as a Curse Eater who uses outlawed magic. When her attempt to save a woman from a Drudge—a monstrous curse—goes awry, she’s found by her father, Darren, who tells her that her older sister, Fiona, is dead. Ellie is soon back in her ancestral home—the austere Blackwicket House in Nightglass, where her peace is almost immediately interrupted by Inspector Victor Harrow, who invites himself to stay so he can investigate her for crimes related to Curse Eating. Ellie attempts to ignore him and attend to her late sister’s affairs, but she finds herself pursued almost everywhere she goes. She also attracts the interest of William Nightglass, Fiona’s former lover and the eldest son of the city’s abominable Principe, Grigori. He introduces her to Thea James, a friend of Fiona’s and a secret Curse Eater. They want Ellie to use her magic for their own ends, and Ellie wants them to answer questions about her sister. She comes to believe that Fiona had a son, and when she confides in Inspector Harrow, he asks whether she could have taken the child from the Dark Hall. Soon, other people die, and later, Ellie works to save someone riddled with curses and on the brink of death. A conspiracy is afoot, and as Ellie and Victor grow closer and learn each other’s darkest secrets, they can only hope to put a stop to the evil plans.

Northwick has a talent for suspenseful storytelling and skillfully conjures a sense of the gothic from the very first page. The magic system that she has created is a delightfully dark one, and this is seen at its best in Blackwicket House itself. The near-sentience of Ellie’s Drudge-filled childhood home is a compelling setting with great potential for mystery. However, the mystery that readers get loses some of its intrigue, due to a lack of clarity regarding the limits of magic in this world. The link between magic and curses is clear, and the Dark Hall is immediately established as a deadly place from which Drudges come—but although readers know Ellie is powerful, neither she nor the reader are made aware of what she can do until she’s required to do it. As she notes herself in narration: “Eleanora Blackwicket had never been asked to do anything harder than say goodbye and run.” A romantic plotline is similarly abrupt, and the male romantic lead behaves despicably towards Ellie; although it’s easy to foresee the development of their relationship, the story doesn’t do enough to establish him as a worthy partner. The result is an intriguing story that gets lost in the chaos of its own plot.

A sometimes-confusing central mystery, but romantasy fans will delight in the dark, gothic worldbuilding.