Education is often said to lead to a better life. Does that apply when education costs are only affordable by the rich? When the path to a better life requires a lot of money, people will do what it takes to afford it. Take out a loan. Hustle in multiple jobs. Work as a courier in an alchemical black market. Siyon Velo does just that in Notorious Sorcerer by Davinia Evans. He walks the planes to recover items that alchemist use in their experiments. Siyon uses the profits from his hustle to pay for lessons in the alchemical arts. But progress is slow and piecemeal. With an unintentional display of public magic, Siyon begins getting the education of his dreams at a cost that might include the destruction of the city of Bezim.
Disclaimer: The publisher provided a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Any and all opinions that follow are mine alone.
© PrimmLife.com 2022
TL;DR
Notorious Sorcerer by Davinia Evans follows Siyon Velo’s unique education in alchemy. An act of public magic sets Siyon and Bezim itself on a path towards salvation or armageddon. Highly recommended.
From the Publisher
In a city filled with dangerous yet heavily regulated alchemical magic, a man from the slums discovers he may be its only hope to survive certain destruction in this wickedly entertaining fantasy.
Welcome to Bezim, where sword-slinging bravi race through the night and rich and idle alchemists make magic out of mixing and measuring the four planes of reality.
Siyon Velo, Dockside brat turned petty alchemist, scrapes a living hopping between the planes to harvest ingredients for the city’s alchemists. But when Siyon accidentally commits an act of impossible magic, he’s catapulted into the limelight—which is a bad place to be when the planes start lurching out of alignment, threatening to send Bezim into the sea.
It will take a miracle to save the city. Good thing Siyon has pulled off the impossible before. Now he just has to master it.
A dazzling fantasy bursting with wild magic, chaotic sword-fighting street gangs, brazen flirting, malevolent harpies, and one defiant alchemist.
Review: Notorious Sorcerer by Davinia Evans
Siyon Velo delves from the Mundane plane to the other three alchemical planes: Empyreal, Abyssal, and Aethyreal. From these planes, he gathers material such as sand, air, water, feathers, etc. This material gets sold to the alchemists of the city. By delving, he opens a portal to another plane and steps through. A person on the Mundane side must hold a tether to pull him back out of the alchemical plane. The book opens with Siyon delving and Zagiri Savani acting as his tether. Zagiri is a member of the upper class of the city of Bezim. She and Siyon are also members of a tribe of Bravi, a sort of gang that both entertains the city and fights with other gangs. Upon delving, Siyon brings back some sand and a phoenix feather from the Empyreal realm. Zagiri pulls him back right as an angelic broadsword slashes at him. Siyon survives unscathed. Zagiri follows him to the alchemist’s social club where he can sell the sand to her brother-in-law, Nihath Joddani. Joddani is the premier alchemist of the city and a client of Siyon’s. He’s also a member of the city’s elite upper class, the azatan, which protects him from the city’s law enforcement. The Inquisitors turn a blind eye to the practice alchemy, which is illegal in the city of Bezim. While selling alchemical supplies to Joddani, Siyon overhears that the alchemical planes are out of balance. This worries the city’s alchemists because the city was once ravaged by alchemy in a cataclysmic event called the Sundering. Joddani and all the other alchemists worry that another potential Sundering is happening.
While basking in the success of his sale, Siyon and Zagiri celebrate with their tribe of Bravi. During the celebration, Siyon performs an act of magic in public. It was neither an alchemical working nor legal. The inquisitors rush in, and Siyon and Zagiri hide with her family. Soon, word spreads around the city of Siyon’s magic. He’s invited to the alchemist club to be considered for membership, a dream Siyon thought impossible. At the club, the disparity between his station and the others is even more evident. While there, he sells a phoenix feather to the son of the prefect of Bezim. As Siyon prepares for the entrance interview, an alarm goes up. The prefect’s son has disappeared in a working of alchemy that rocks the city. This begins a crackdown of illegal alchemy by the inquisitors even as the planes fall more out of balance. Can Siyon find the prefect’s son before the inquisitor’s jail him and balance the planes before the city falls apart?
Notorious Sorcerer by Davinia Evans is a third person point of view story. Siyon Velo is the main character, but he shares point of view chapters with three other characters: Zagiri Savani, her sister Anahid Joddani, and Izmirlian Hisarani, an upper class noble looking for an impossible alchemical working. The story effortlessly flows between these characters to give readers a wholistic view of the city of Bezim. Evans takes us from high society to Bravi tribes to the University to the docks to the hedonistic Flower District. While we see lots of the city, each moment feels too short. I look forward to seeing more of the city in future volumes.
Characters
Going into the novel, I thought it would rest on Siyon’s likeability. But I quickly found out that the novel doesn’t bet it all on Siyon. Evans has four unique character viewpoints throughout the novel. It’s neat because they are unique characters who have a lot in common. Siyon and Zagiri are in the same Bravi tribe. Zagiri and Anahid are sisters and also azatani, which they have in common with Izmirlian. He is an explorer like Siyon, except he explores the Mundane world where Siyon delves into the different planes. They all have a lot of similarities, but I never felt like I was reading the same character with four different names.
Prior to this novel, the only characters with a relationship were the sisters. As the novel progresses, we see relationships form between each of the viewpoint characters, and it’s an enjoyable journey. Overall, I like Anahid’s storyline the best. I feel for her. She was trained to be a polite society woman, and she achieved her goal of marrying a nice man. However, their marriage is, well, a mess seems too light of a descriptor, yet sham implies a purposeful deception. She is unhappy with her marriage to Nihath Joddani. I get why she sought the marriage, but why did Joddani? I don’t understand what he gets out of the marriage. Neither does Anahid. It makes her a joke among her social circle; she’s an easy target for social ridicule. But she’s also a fighter. She tries her best to play the polite games of society, but she soon finds it’s another game that best suits her. What sort of trouble lies in her future?
The City of Bezim
The city of Bezim feels old to me in this novel. It has a dance of its own that the populace enjoys. Bravi and their challenges add flare to the citizens lives. Illicit alchemy and its tragic past are always close at hand for those who know where to look. The setting feels like a mix of Italian Renaissance and Middle Eastern. But Bezim is also a city of trade; so, people from other parts of the world inhabit it. There are distinct classes within society, and even the leader of the city – the prefect – must play the games of the aristocracy. Her hold on power is tenuous, and she can’t afford to piss off the aristocracy. Crime lords run the hedonistic Flower District where sex, gambling, and drugs are to be found. It’s a place the upper crust avoids. Siyon avoids it because the crime lords are good at getting their hooks into people. (I think the Flower District has some storylines for future novels.) The docks are where the fishers live. They are mostly illiterate folk who fish or work with fish for the others in their society. It’s a multifaceted city in which alchemists can come from any class, but due to the costs associated, alchemists often are limited to the aristocracy.
The Bravi are a fun and interesting part of the novel. They’re part gang, part family, part theater troupe, and part party. While the Bravi tend to come from the middle and lower classes, azatan/azatani will join a tribe as well. They are known for ‘running the tiles,’ a.k.a. running on the rooftops, and for challenging other Bravi tribes to fights. Sometimes, these challenges take place at parties the aristocracy are hosting. Sometimes the elites just book a Bravi tribe to raid their party. Overall, they are an interesting part of Bezim that Evans puts to good use. As the story progresses, we see more and more depth to the Bravi tribes.
Educating the Alchemist
Throughout Notorious Sorcerer, Siyon talks about taking lessons to become an alchemist. Nihath Joddani looks down upon Siyon because he lacks formal training. But it’s not clear through the novel what that formal training is. There is a university in the story; is that the training that Joddani expects of alchemists? Siyon seeks training from other alchemists in the form of private tutelage. Well, for him, it’s more like one and done classes because that’s what he can afford.
The alchemist club offers membership, not based on economic status, but upon ability. However, ability is highly connected to knowledge, which is highly connected to finances. So, membership to the club is limited; though the members might disagree. The small glimpses we get of this club make it seem like part social club and part academic symposium. I don’t remember seeing that the club offers classes or training. But their library holds many books that Siyon hopes to get a hold of someday.
Despite Siyon’s delving and plane-walking, he’s not considered a ‘real’ alchemist. The lessons he takes push him toward a greater understanding of the art. But Siyon is limited by his place in society, and as much as he tries to better himself, the structures Bezim society has put in place keep him from the knowledge he desires. Siyon, however, is not one to be deterred easily. Notorious Sorcerer, in a way, is the story of Siyon’s unique education in alchemy. His particular path results in unexpected knowledge. Whether Siyon’s life is better because of his education will have to be answered in future novels.
Conclusion
Davinia Evans’s Notorious Sorcerer is a fun tale of alchemy and magic in an excellent setting. Siyon and friends make for enjoyable reading, and like me, you’ll be glued to the pages. Highly recommended.
Notorious Sorcerer by Davinia Evans is available from Orbit Books on September 13th, 2022.
© PrimmLife.com 2022