Review: Oculta

Oculta by Maya Motayne
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It's been a couple of years since Maya Motayne debuted with her tale of linguistic magic and thievery and royal intrigue, but I'd like to think she took that time to really serve up a sweet sequel to the best of her ability. Long like its predecessor, but not as fast-paced this time, because here we get into a hell of a lot more royal intrigue now that Alfie's got to host the incoming monarchy of Englass. The former colonizers' presence doesn't go over well in Castallan, of course, especially with Alfie and Finn and Luka, who have to contend with sharing space with magical classist capitalists - unable to colonize Castallan anymore, they now enforce a strict caste system depriving their lower class citizens of their potential magic. But is there a little hope for redemption from these royal fools? Even though the book's climax rolls out in much the way you might expect, Motayne does a damn fine job of convincing us there could be room for change. But there's a lot more to the ending, though - especially the weapons-grade surprises inherent in this book's cliffhanger, ensuring that Motayne is absolutely sticking to her original plan for a trilogy. Maybe we'll be waiting two years for that final novel too? Who knows, but that book will be a long time coming no matter when it eventually does.

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