Bumpy Oak Books

**I was provided an electronic ARC from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for honest review.**

Actual rating: 3.5

Dana Swift presents the first installment in the Wickery series, Cast in Firelight. Readers follow Adraa, the eldest born daughter of the raja and rani of Bedwar. In Wickery, the gods bless some people with elemental magic corresponding to colors. Adraa, as future rani, is expected to master all nine magics. When she is betrothed to Jatin, future raja to the neighboring people, his ease with each type of magic establishes a rough start in their relationship. As Adraa and Jatin age, their relationship shifts from enemies to friends to lovers and they might just have to save all of Wickery in the process.

I enjoyed my reading experience with Cast in Firelight. Adraa was an accessible and relatable character that managed to not fall into the “not like other girls” trope. I enjoyed the seamless incorporation of LGBTQ characters and characters with disabilities as well as having a strong POC cast. More than just the inclusion of these characters, every single character had purpose and development and none of the characters were token representation. I was also grateful to read Swift’s note regarding her own family and the fact that this story is technically not #OwnVoices. This is another situation where the own voices concept could have potentially hurt the reception of this work, and I hope that it does not.

Beyond those things, I like elemental magic with a fictional pantheon. That’s never going to get old for me, and it formed the basis for this story. This story happened to be a combination of so many common fantasy themes that I enjoy executed well and with a writing style that is easily readable and fast-paced. I didn’t find anything to be particularly ground-breaking or original, but it doesn’t have to be in order to be a good story and good entertainment.

I think that fans of Elise Kova’s works could easily find a new home in Wickery. I look forward to reading more from Swift and more in this series in the future.