Book Review: Auraria

Reviewed by Andrea Marks-Joseph

Imaginative magic systems & genuine chemistry drives this fantasy tale rich with royal drama.

Princess Elisa’s family drama (mostly through her uncle’s greed and violent desperation for the crown) has put her life in imminent danger. 

When we meet Elisa, she could be about to die. Our first experience of her and her loyal knight/best-friend, Lily, is at the start of a death match where Lily is fighting on Elisa’s behalf. 

If Lily loses, likely by dying in the fight, Elisa too would be put to death. When they win the death match, triumphing over the men (who are perceived as smarter, stronger, and untouchable), it’s through their brilliant strategic skills and natural talents honed to perfection. 

The chaos following their shocking win means that Elisa’s uncle can no longer eliminate her from the line of succession by way of prosecution, but it does not make her any safer in town.

Knowing they’ve trained for this situation and that they want to avoid her uncle, the two women decide to travel to meet Prince Ryne. Elisa has genuinely enjoyed when they’ve met in the past and he can understand their predicament. 

The majority of this book takes place on the road from Elisa’s village to Prince Ryne’s. Along the way, the women encounter William, who was sent by Ryne to protect them. The introduction of William brings a new sense of mystery and comfort to the roadtrip. He’s easy to trust and careful to defer to Prince Ryne when he doesn’t feel it’s his place to share information, no matter how many curious and clever   questions the women ask. 

Most enjoyably, for me, is the new dimension of magic that William brings. He has elven tools and elven skills, and something strange but extremely helpful happens when his magic collides with Lily’s: They form a bond of communication, suddenly connected telepathically. 

It’s not entirely convenient, though, when they’re making assessments of each other as they spend more time together—especially inconvenient because sometimes their thoughts are judgmental and suspicious of each other; other times, because they’re complimentary in exactly the way you wish your crush would never hear out loud, let alone inside their minds. They sometimes even end up witnessing the others’ (very revealing) dreams! 

My two favorite things about this book are the inventive magic systems and the magical problems that arise in Elisa and William’s connection. It enables consistently exciting, and constantly evolving, challenges for all the characters; Author Tab Stevens writes these situations in such a way that we really understand their magnitude. The three characters learn so much about themselves and each other through this exchange of magical knowledge, which interferes with their plans to get to Prince Ryne and their plans once they meet up with him. 

I loved that these two leading women have such huge skillsets of magical talents and practical experiences that they end up genuinely useful to the political situation. They excel at devising and enacting daring strategies, and they’re blessed with the talents of exhibiting icon behavior. Princess Elisa in particular thrives on showmanship, energized by winning hearts and dazzling spectators wherever they go. She puts on a show for any villagers they meet along the way to Prince Ryne’s village—part of her need for them to adore her as a person (“Elisa’s ego required her to be a star”), and part of her plans to make them fall in love with her as a ruler should she need their approval for political protection in future. 

Lily’s skills are perfectly suited to support her Princess best friend’s shenanigans. But meeting William also reveals the cracks in their relationship: the moments when Lily’s love for Elisa chafes against the knight’s; the increasingly-evident tension between a knight’s true desires and the Princess who she can’t say no to; the trouble with having only one friend and confidant when that person is also your boss. And, in a delightful twist: The confusion when you begin to experience romantic and erotic feelings toward your best friend who is betrothed to someone else —a handsome Prince, who you also find incredibly attractive! Then there’s the thrilling addition of William’s desires entering the picture, and all three of them having to deal with new feelings while sharing space in each other’s minds, making it impossible to keep secrets. 

I hope this book finds its way into the hands of many creatively talented readers, mainly for personal reasons, because this story (and its fierce, lively characters with   strong, multifaceted personalities) is so deserving of fan art, fan fiction, and a fandom who discusses the ins and outs of these characters for years to come. I know I’ll be thinking of them for that long!

In addition to the romance and potential queerness between the leads (and without revealing anything that Lily and Elisa learn at critical parts of this story), the lore and wisdom held within the character William is so pure and yet complex. This storyline will intrigue and delight trans readers. There’s a really lovely–and loving— dynamic in the truth of William’s childhood and history with Ryne that speaks to ideas of gender identity and selfhood Genderqueer and genderfluid readers will really appreciate the author’s creative, compassionate, yet totally casual use of pronouns and fantasy to craft a world where anything’s possible and each character is loved for who they are. 

This fantasy novel works outside of the young adult genre, but I would love for this story to be read by teenage readers, for the way Stevens writes the fierce, unconditional love that young adults find in each other, and the brave, bold ways they support each other in the moments that count. It’s so rare to read characters that feel genuinely real in their youthful jokes, sudden moments of embarrassment, andin their divinely youthful loyalty to each other.

I loved Auraria for its bold, confident, highly skilled young women; for its loyal, kind men who are unafraid to show their uncertainty or their emotions; for its royal ambushes and castle drama; for the courageous leaders who are deserving of the faith that their soldiers and staff have in them and for their friends who won’t allow them to believe the lie of selflessness in their actions. 

“Real friends facing danger together. I think I could get used to this.” 

I’d recommend Auraria for fans of the Netflix series The Letter for the Kin; and Netflix series Half Bad: The Bastard Son & The Devil Himself for the way it follows the journey of three new friends who must learn the extent of their magic and that they cannot trust the adults in their lives. These stories all center a group of exceptional people facing an identity crisis who still find time to banter playfully throughout their life-threatening adventures. 

Romance readers or readers who are motivated by ship dynamics will enjoy Auraria. This story had me giggling out loud and playfully rolling my eyes in tandem with the characters. I had a huge smile on my face as these people fell more in love with each other and questioned whether it was platonic or romantic or simply the bond of soldiers on the road together. And I loved them so much that I didn’t mind what the answer was, as long as we all got to spend more time together. 

Auraria is so engaging—there’s battle strategy, court politics, lifelong friendships and revenge plans. The core three (and later four, when they unite with the Prince) is the reason I can’t wait for a sequel. That, and the many reveals at the end of the story. The way Stevens crafted the anticipation at the end of this novel is so brilliant and unique . Instead of there being one cliffhanger, we are presented with a collection of world-shattering, jaw-dropping insights that the characters have about each other. I’d follow these characters anywhere, in any world, but especially into book 2.

Thank you for reading Andrea Marks-Joseph’s book review of Auraria by Tab Stephens! If you liked what you read, please spend some more time with us at the links below.

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