The Electric Heir (Feverwake #2)
by Victoria Lee
Publisher: Skyscape
Release Date: March 17th2020
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, LGBTQ
Six months after Noam Álvaro helped overthrow the despotic government of Carolinia, the Atlantians have gained citizenship, and Lehrer is chancellor. But despite Lehrer’s image as a progressive humanitarian leader, Noam has finally remembered the truth that Lehrer forced him to forget—that Lehrer is responsible for the deadly magic infection that ravaged Carolinia. Now that Noam remembers the full extent of Lehrer’s crimes, he’s determined to use his influence with Lehrer to bring him down for good. If Lehrer realizes Noam has evaded his control—and that Noam is plotting against him—Noam’s dead. So he must keep playing the role of Lehrer’s protégé until he can steal enough vaccine to stop the virus. Meanwhile Dara Shirazi returns to Carolinia, his magic stripped by the same vaccine that saved his life. But Dara’s attempts to ally himself with Noam prove that their methods for defeating Lehrer are violently misaligned. Dara fears Noam has only gotten himself more deeply entangled in Lehrer’s web. Sooner or later, playing double agent might cost Noam his life.
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MINI REVIEW
This duology is awesome! And quite pertinent at present, ironically, given the current COVID19 pandemic. More than that, though, it’s a story about surviving, being more than a victim, and facing uncomfortable truths. It’s about how different people cope with abuse, and with not being believed. For me, it resonated not for sexual or physical abuse, but for emotional. It also resonated in a weird fashion with the life trauma I suffered at age 20 that led to me becoming legally blind, and eventually I had to stop driving. Because I didn’t, and don’t, *look* like anything is wrong, sometimes I get people being a-holes. I also have ME, which is a chronic, hidden neuro condition. Again, nothing looks wrong. Both drastically changed my life, and learning to cope with each, and with ignorant people has been a challenge. My rambling point is that they are also things to be ‘survived’, that greatly affect the psyche.
Electric Heir is darker than Fever King. I want to squish Dara and Noam, and keep them safe. It’s a more character-driven story, which I tend to enjoy. Still, it can be pretty heavy reading. There are mentions of suicide, the adult/minor relationship and abuse, and addiction, among other things.
Victoria Lee grew up in Durham, North Carolina, where she spent twelve ascetic years as a vegetarian before discovering spicy chicken wings are, in fact, a delicacy. She’s been a state finalist competitive pianist, a hitchhiker, a pizza connoisseur, an EMT, an expat in China and Sweden, and a science doctoral student. She’s also a bit of a snob about fancy whisky. Victoria writes early in the morning, then spends the rest of the day trying to impress her border collie puppy and make her experiments work. She is represented by Holly Root and Taylor Haggerty at Root Literary.
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