I don’t think I’ve ever read anything quite like The Fever King. It’s a vast, complex, multi-layered book that takes about five different plot threads and runs with them until you’re struggling to keep up. It’s a young adult dystopian queer fantasy (try saying that with a mouth full of marshmallows), and it makes for some gripping reading.
So, what’s it about? In an unspecified year in the far future, magic has been unleashed on the world, and it’s become a virus that kills people indiscriminately. Those who survive become witchings, who can wield that power on behalf of the Carolinian government. This is what happens to Noam, the son of undocumented immigrants, who very quickly becomes tangled up in a game of politics that threatens to change the world.
Phew. And that’s juts the half of it.
I admire Victoria Lee’s ambition in writing The Fever King, because she tackles so many different things. However, that never compromises the feeling that the characters are worth rooting for- at least for the main characters. The supporting characters aren’t quite as well drawn as the central trio. Dara in particular is an enigma whose romance with Noam has to take the award for the most agonising slow-burn in modern literature; watching their delicate dance as they try to figure each other out makes for fascinating reading, and lots of pent-up frustration.
And the romance. I can’t describe how refreshing it is to have queer romance at the centre of a book like this, especially with a bisexual main character (though I didn’t find it super realistic that every character in the book was queer, as per Victoria Lee’s letter).
On the other side, there’s Calix Lehrer, the charismatic ex-king of Carolinia, who takes Noam under his wing. Together they start planning a revolution, but something never feels quite right with Lehrer, as you find about more about him through press clippings and videos from his childhood.
Lee’s writing is a thing of beauty. She deftly balances Noam’s conflicting loyalties: to his old life, to Dara, to Lehrer, and to the immigrants dying of magic somewhere outside the city, all the while threading in clues and neat little details that make the city of Durham (the American version) feel alive- though I would have appreciated some more information on how the wider world fits into the equation, especially as Noam’s father streams a match between Argentina and Colombia at one point in the book.
Though the start of the book feels quite slow and confusing- with some scenes that feel quite a bit longer than necessary- her writing fizzes with tension, and it feels like all of the action is packed into the final third, as well as some great plot twists. If you’re looking for something a little bit different to read this summer, The Fever King might just be it!

*thank you to Skyscape Publishing and Netgalley for the free book in exchange for an honest review*


I tried to give this book the old college try. Twice. But for some reason, I couldn’t get into it. The premise sounded really interesting but I don’t think it was well executed.
This nook does has a huge following for a reason, so perhaps it just wasn’t for me.

This was the lgbt dystopia book I needed!
I went into this knowing nothing about it. After the first chapter I realized this book was about a disease (I know sometimes I should read titles of books..). This book was amazing!

The magic system is so original and well worked out! And the author does a great job in explaining this system without it being info dumping. They way it is explained in the story feels really natural!
The world is based on the US, so that is easy to imagine (never been there though). But it is in the future after some world disaster, so there are lots of places where no one lives. And different nations don’t trust each other etc. But what I actually wanted to say is that there is not much worldbuilding, but I would say that in this book it is not that necessary!
And then the characters! They were AMAZING! I loved them all. Noam is precious. I absolutely adore Dara’s character, he is such a ‘bad boy’, but actually he is really cute. All the other characters at their school (?) were also really interesting and well developed. There are some characters that you just don’t know if you should trust or not, which I always love. So at some point you just start agreeing with the main character, but you’re never sure haha.
I did see the idea of the reveal coming, but I did not see the why how coming, if that makes sense. Also the last chapter went really different then expected! In a good way! I cannot wait for the sequel, which will probably take at least another year..

4.5 stars.

The Fever King took me be surprise, and by that I mean I did not go into this imagining I'd hardcore love it. My reading experience itself was irregular since I had a lot going on, but my gosh, did the book pay off. A fascinating magic system, a flawed but likeable protagonist, a slow-burn romance, a xenophobic government and a country where nothing is as it seems...sign me up.

The beginning was slow and somewhat jarring—the action starts straight away without any world-building, so I wasn't entirely sure what was going on with Lee's post-America—but things became clearer the further I read. The story ended up being predictable in some ways, but did I care? Not one bit, because I enjoyed how those revelations unfolded, even if I'd already guessed at them. Lee's writing had a great flow once you got past the confusing bits, and I liked how she never shied away from topics like sex and cursing and poverty, plus her use of letters and video recordings. I found the magic interesting, not only because these abilities were more in line with superpowers, but because they were all founded in science, which made for an innovative concept. This is an extremely political book focusing on the forced removal of refugees, and while some people don't seem to like that aspect, I found it engaging. The tension did slacken somewhat during the second half, maybe because the book's driven by its characters just as much as it is by the plot, and while I never lost interest, I couldn't help but wonder when something regarding the Atlantian and Carolinian conflict would happen again.

Again, this is a very character-driven novel, and Noam sold it for me. Seriously, I adored this kid. He was funny and sassy, and I loved how Lee showed him balancing that line between doing what was morally right verses what would bring about the change needed to protect his fellow Atlantians. I do wish we'd gotten to see more of him actually developing his technopathic and telekinetic abilities, because as it was, there wasn't much of him growing into a witching. And Dara...he was such a trainwreck, and Lee showed his unhealthy coping habits without condoning them, and he was softer than I'd thought he'd be, and he just needs the biggest hug ever. Watching him and Noam go from hostility to friendship to eventual love gave me so many emotions. There were just a lot of complicated relationships in this book, all of them fascinating and most heartbreaking, and while some background characters needed development, others were very well crafted (I'm talking about you, Lehrer).

I loved that ending. Loved it. And I cannot wait to see where Lee takes us in the sequel.

I received an ARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Okay. This book fits so well with what I love: apocalyptic, sci-fi, fantasy, suspense... Bring magic in a futuristic world and you got me. Add a romantic story, and I'm hooked! A couple of times, I would have hidden myself behind my eyes if I was watching a movie. I devoured the book, loved loved loved!

Many thanks to Skyscape for my e-copy of this book through NetGalley.

The Fever King is difficult for me. On one hand, it's topically relevant, but on the other hand, it's at times just too much. There are many trigger warnings for this book, especially for YA. I think this story is too heavy for a YA audience. I read it, but I didn't like it that much. It's an overwhelming story, and it's not for me. Thanks to NetGalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

Received a free copy from Netgalley to review for the FFBC blog tour. I didn't post this during the tour because it's, uh....You'll see.

Content Warning: Xenophobia, War Crimes, Gun Violence, Ghettos, Mass Death, Death by Suicide, Ephebophile “Relationship” (older person preying on a young teen), Self-Destruction, Protest Repression (like Ferguson), and a bunch of awful dystopian shit.

TL:DR: I don’t know how I feel about this. I was hooked on reading & will be continuing the series most likely. But

I thought it was a clear metaphor with Hitler and anti-semitism. But then the person coded as Hitler turns out to be Jewish? So instead they were the Jewish uprising (and German because Jews were/are German still), and the original USA was Hitler's Germany? But then the Jewish lead is Evil Mastermind and the Jewish Noob has to save the day? So...power corrupts?!? IDK. I think my preconceptions fucked me over hard here. Don’t be like me.

--Very mature YA.
--Lots of shit to watch out for all ages.
--I like the magic virus and abilities stuff based on knowledge.
--If MC was a girl, I wouldn’t like her to rescue/save the self-destructo boy and jeopardize the cause.
--I get why Dude was so self-destructive, but damn was it hard to read
--Hard drinking & some drugging
--I don’t know how I feel about the assassination attempt/accidental murder/self-defense turned out.

gifset of winona ryder looking very confused at award show speech for stranger things.

This book drew me in from the very beginning. I enjoyed the world building, the characters were awesomely diverse and well developed. The science was interesting and the world building and magic were awesome, but the characters, the characters kept me reading, they kept my attention. I wanted to know how it ended and yet I didn't want it to end! I can't wait for the next book.

*Thank you to Netgalley for providing an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.*

<strong>CW’s: Violence, Abuse, Death, Suicide, Drug/Alcohol Abuse, Intergenerational Trauma/Genocide*</strong>

<strong>Representation</strong> 🌷 <u>Jewish Bisexual Biracial MC, Gay PoC Love Interest, Trauma</u>

<strong>** for a more <a href="http://victorialeewrites.com/2018/09/18/the-fever-king-content-warnings" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">detailed, longer list</a> see the website of the author!!!</strong>

<i>Thank you to Skyscape and Netgalley for providing me with a digital Arc in exchange for an honest Review! All quotes featured are from the Arc and therefore subject to changes.</i>

<b>“That was the whole point. Governments didn’t have to listen to the people until the people made it hurt not to listen.”</b>

✅ <b>I was a big fan of the ‘magic system’</b>. The heart of the worldbuilding are the Witchings, powerful humans that have been infected with a virus that kills almost everyone else. The survivors are left with new powers because they have successfully build antibodies and therefore survived, even though no one has been able to use them to find a cure yet. I love that the witchings and their abilities were connected to science and knowledge, as this is not always the case when it comes to a magic system. They basically have one ‘presenting’ power that they got after surviving the virus and it is connected to knowledge. You need to know about what you do (math, physics etc.) when you use an ability to pull it off. The first, instinctive power is related to what you knew the most of before getting infected. E.g. for Noam it was computers/hacking, which explains why he is a technopath. I found that to be very interesting, especially as learning more about physics etc. can enable you to learn more powers (even though maybe with some restraints compared to presenting powers)! I like that <b>logical system and it really stood out to me as unique, as these abilities need knowledge to function</b>, meaning that you have to work for them. I also liked learning about how witchings are regarded and especially their dark history, where some were used as lab rats to test them out and find out a cure. Even now there are ‘anti-witching’ states that see them as unnatural and dangerous.

✅ <b>I did like the entire setting</b>. The virus that I mentioned before has been a part of a huge catastrophe and I like that we have magic in a bad context: it literally kills most people it comes in contact with because normal humans bodies cannot contain it and therefore mass outbreaks are feared by society. There was also a huge war (including nuclear warfare( that bombed the majority of the United States, meaning that new ‘kingdoms’/states were formed like Carolina (our setting and pro witching), Texas (notoriously anti-witching) and Atlantia (pretty destroyed and subject to massive virus outbreaks) that are in conflict with one another. I also liked that at least the rest of the world was mentioned (something that doesn’t always happen), like Britain, who does not like witchings. I also<b> liked the discussion of immigration</b> that was brought up via Noam, whose parents were illegal immigrants from Atlantia, due to the horrible situation there. Of course Noam also shows us what a difficult situations immigrants are in, how easily they become scapegoats for the virus and how many that are sent back to Atlantia only to die there.

⛔ Still there are some things that<b> I definitely need answers for</b>, because I feel like we don’t completely know how the entire catastrophe took place, as we only get glimpses. I was also confused because it seems like we are in an alternate timeline, where witching have been around in the 1960s too instead of just having been there in the future. That part of the history was a bit vague.

✅ <b>I did think that all the main characters were complex and well-developed</b>. <b>Noam is our protagonist</b> and he is very different from the witchings that he later joins after getting his powers. I liked that we got to explore his outsider status and how being an immigrant and therefore not as privileged as his classmates impacted him. He often discusses wanting to make a difference for his people who are unfairly treated and then blamed whenever something goes wrong. I liked his dedication to his community and how he tried to use his position to make a change. Noam really struggles with feeling like he is powerless and insignificant, so he sets out to do absolutely everything to achieve something better. I liked that we see how doing the right thing can also backfire if you are too narrow-minded and not willing to see beyond your cause. I would say that makes Noam more of an anti-hero in the book. My <b>favorite character however was Dara</b>, who is withdrawn, mysterious and the popular, powerful boy in the group. My favorite type of character really. I liked that he had complexity and wasn’t just the arrogant boy who has everything, but hides a lot more that he has to deal with and cannot tell everyone. I felt really bad for him, as he did have a tough life and a lot of vulnerabilities, that he tries to hide behind sarcasm and closing off. Then we have <b>Lehrer who made an interesting character</b>. He is shown as the mentor type, powerful, a revolutionary and tortured for being a witching in the past. He is an interesting character, that I never fully trusted, as he is good at keeping his emotions in check. It was interesting to see how each of the three characters coped with trauma and their past.

⛔ <b>Sadly the secondary characters were underdeveloped and therefore fell flat for me.</b> While it’s great that we have 3 strong main characters, it’s always important that the minor characters are strong as well and have their own motivation/goal/conflict. That wasn’t the case here. Among all the characters Ames seemed to be the most developed and I see great potential for her to become a more important character in the second book, but even she could have been more fleshed out. Linda and Bethany had barely any distinct personality and no own goal or motivation, which is why they felt more like props in the story than individual characters. <b>Due to the fact that the three main characters are men, we had no female characters that had any significance to the story. </b>That saddened me, as the only important characters here were men. Ames remains the most important female character, but even she was a minor character. I really want her to become more important in the future.

✅ <b>I did like the romance, it was a great slowburn. </b>Dara and Noam are kind of also enemies to lovers, because they start out not liking the other very much but grow closer together. I thought that they had great chemistry, so all their interactions felt real and were very well-written. I totally bought the romance and I think that them having chemistry is so important, as that is what really gets me invested in a relationship! There was a bit of ‘I cannot tell you x, y or z’ going on, but in the end it kind of made sense that Dara could not tell Noam certain things - I totally understood his actions, so it didn’t frustrate me. What did frustrate me was Noam being a bit naive at times and a pushy when it came to Dara’s personal life.

⛔ <b>I wasn’t a big fan of the ending</b>. One of my least favorite Tropes is when we have finally uncovered something and there has been a big revelation (with so many important things FINALLY cleared up) … only for it to be reversed a second later. Due to spoilers I cannot say more, but if you have read the book you know what I mean. It was very disappointing to me, as this plotline stirs up more drama in the next book when we have to do it all over again, which feels very unnecessary to me. I find<b> tropes like this to be very frustrating</b> in the end, as the big reveal should be satisfying to read about and I feel a bit cheated that it was all undone. This also made the ending a bit confusing and messy. It didn’t turn out how I thought it would and disappointed me.

<strong>“It's all random chance. The universe. Us. An infinite cascade of chaos. A series of impossible accidents is the only reason we even exist.”</strong>

I found this book to be enjoyable. I was hooked by the first chapter. I loved the main character and his love interest. It was an interesting read that had some twists and turns that I enjoyed. I would have liked a little more detail about the workings of the magic system in the book and a little more information about some of the supporting characters, however I still thoroughly enjoyed the book and will look for more books from this author in the future because I really liked the writing style, it was a fast read and easy to read. I would classify this book as a sci-fi, fantasy hybrid and I highly recommend this book if you want a sci fi, magical book with a side of romance, the romance in this story isn't just thrown in there to be in there either, it actually plays a part in this book which I loved.

The Fever King kept me on the edge of my seat and I couldn’t get enough of Noam’s journey to become a witching. This futuristic tale was riveting to me as Noam dealt with the pain of losing those close to him and the determination to use his magic to fight against the military. Ms. Lee’s writing was absolutely mesmerizing and I love that this is the first book in a brand new series. Can’t wait to get my hands on this next installment of this exciting series.

5 stars

THIS BOOK, Y’ALL.

I love it so much? It was tightly written and wonderfully set up and I love the characters and am SO DEAD at the ending.

Whew! I could scream about this book all day, honestly.

In short, if you get anything from this review, it’s that you should READ THE FEVER KING. GO.

The lovable characters + ships.

Honestly, Victoria Lee is a master at creating characters I love and feel intensely attached to.

It’s one thing to write characters that are real or interesting, but it’s a completely other thing to write characters that you fall in love with and can’t get enough of, and they’ve totally made this happen and I LOVE Noam and Dara and everyone else (except you-know-who).

I want them to have a happy ending. I’m actually invested in them and their stories and their happiness, and I think this is one of the greatest things a fiction writer can accomplish, and Lee has done this.

All I want from the sequel, The Electric Heir, is for Noam and Dara and everyone else to happily retire in a beautiful countryside and skip through fields of daisies. Is that too much to ask? *sobs*

The gritty futuristic setting and the creative virus.

I loooove sci-fi and the setting feels very sci-fi to me. It’s not like the 2010 dystopian YA fiction a la Hunger Games, but more gritty and a little apocalyptic (or, more hopeless if not apocalyptic) with more influence from our current world and modern politics.

It’s so rich and immersive and you get sucked into Carolinia (although, we’ll apparently be seeing other areas of this futuristic world in the sequel) and the almost desperate life people have to carve out for themselves and the suffering that is prevalent.

There’s a lot of different issues that Lee tackles, and it can be messy and confusing and not clear cut–exactly like life. A lot of the time in fiction, it feels like these types of worlds are divided into “rebels” and “non rebels,” but Lee writes something more complex than that. They write how different causes and things give those who protest different goals and ideas and it pulls them to decide what is their priority.

This is real. It’s not clean cut and one group is in the wrong and one is in the right. It’s got so many different elements that are part of real-life movements.

The fight for women’s rights? There were so many different divisions, and some activists excluded black women (*cough* Susan B. Anthony), but did it with a purpose (for feminism–this doesn’t mean she was right, though). Others disagreed with her methods.

Black rights? So many different activists who had different views on how to acheive equality throughout American history.

There is no clear set right or wrong way to do something when you’re dealing with a movement, and another one of Lee’s triumphs in this book is how they show the more morally gray and not straightforward elements of a movement that isn’t necessarily prominent in other YA fiction pieces.

And the virus added a little bit of a fantasy element, which I loved reading! Most people who get the virus die, but the few survivors now develop special abilities, and the protagonist Noam is one of them.

The smart take on social issues in a fantasci setting.

I talked about this a little bit in the last section, but even more than a realistic depiction of activism, there’s also a lot of social issues being tackled by Lee, and I think they did a good job in balancing all of these.

From immigration to religion and their links to politics, Lee weaves this into the story without making this a book whose primary focus is these issues. It’s part of life, and that’s real.

Anyone who says that this book is too political should be reminded that the existence of any person who is a minority is inherently political. You can ignore it, but when it comes down to it, political issues give rights and take them away, and it almost never does this with non-minority groups.

Lee makes the social issues in the books prominent and there, yet woven into the story to not make it the focus. Because Noam’s existence is inherently political, and so are many of ours.

THE ENTIRE STORYLINE OMG.

Lee captures your attention right away with a heavy introduction feat. the death of Noam’s father and the virus infecting the area where he lives.

And from there, it only gets more and more tense as Noam joins Level IV and meets new people–some good and some bad–and gets intertwined with this viciously complex plot.

You’re left guessing who is the bad guy, and Lee toys with the reader and their perception of what’s happening, it’s mindblowing.

It’s very tightly plotted–there’s no room for errors or holes in this story or else it will all fall apart, and the climax had me internally screaming and externally tearing up.

It’s good. It’s really good.

And the ending. The ending killed me.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

I just–HOW COULD YOU DO THIS.

I have no words.

Everyone needs to read this just so we can all scream about the ending from our houses and vibrate the earth with the sheer force of our shrieks.

Overall . . .

Please read it. Thanks.

(Seriously, I love this so much and I can’t believe I have to wait till NEXT YEAR for book 2 to come out.)

I really enjoyed The Fever King and I am looking forward to see what Victoria has in store for these character next because all I can say is that I want more.

Thank you to netgalley for an eArc and to the publishers in exchange for an honest review. I sadly DNF this book, I got swept away with the hype and when I started it just realised the plot and genre just wasn't for me I thought I'd try it but I just couldn't get gripped like I would of liked to. I can see why it is so popular and this book is going to do so well but it just wasn't for me at this time with my reading tastes I would like to try again at a future point. Thank you for the opportunity though and I hope whoever picks up this book loves it like it deserves to be loved :)

An interesting novel about a virus that wipes out a lot of the population, ending life as they know it and bringing forth a new era of 'witchlings' - people with strange new powers as a result of the virus. A highly diverse main character ticks boxes without being prescriptive, and the urban sci-fi style holds up a mirror to current socioeconomic circumstances and the political climate. Exciting and full of tension - not your typical YA sci-fi with some romance thrown in. This is very different.

I really liked this book! The story was really interesting and I couldn't put it down! The characters were really unique and likeable. I loved the powers the hero had and how he used them. Kinda have me X-Men vibes. I had so much fun with this! Can't wait for more!

Victoria Lee's <i> The Fever King </i> takes you on an unexpected journey of twists and turns. At the beginning, I thought I knew what kind of shape the plot was taking - I didn't, and that was somewhat refreshing.

The pursuit of justice is difficult. Justice can also be bloody. It's hard to know sometimes if the end justifies the means, or if we've lost ourselves in the process or merely just changed as people. I thought about this a lot for Noam. I didn't want him to lose himself on the path that was set before him, and as the plot progressed kept coming back to a question: does the end justify the means to get there?

<i> The Fever King </i> explores trauma and how people react to it, in their current lives and in an intergenerational sense. I loved this aspect of the book, though it was also emotionally confronting at times. Trauma lingers, it can weave its way through our lives and into the lives of our children and our communities after we are gone. The way that Lee explores different types of trauma was admirable, with such delicacy and understanding of how trauma plays out in the lives of people, and while managing to make that part of a YA novel - was what pushed this book into a 5-star rating for me. You have to understand trauma in order to write trauma, and Lee showed a delicate and important insight to readers that can be lacking in some contemporary YA.

Being a fantasy-lover myself, I was quite interested in analysing the magical system used in this book. In some fantasy, the magical system just <i> is </i>, but as personal preference I like knowing the uses, limitations and development of that system so it can be well-grounded within its world. I found the design of the system in <i> The Fever King </i> to be well-rounded and used well within the progression of the plot.

Overall, I enjoyed <i> The Fever King </i> a lot more than I anticipated I would. I did um and err for a while as to whether or not to give this a 4 or 5 star read, but finally settled on 5 stars, due to the delicate nuance, understanding and exploration of multiple themes in this novel.

This book was provided to me by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book follows Noam as there is an outbreak of a magic virus and he survives it. He is now known as a witchling and gets taken under a former king's wing.  He wants to help refugees and gets caught up in politics.The world was very well developed and I want to know a lot more about it. It was very interesting to know about the history of the world and how it got to the point it did I found the writing to be really good and easy to follow. This book reminded me very much of classic dystopian and I very much enjoyed that. As i said the magic system was very unique and not everyone can withstand magic in there body and it was interesting to see how biology was mixed into the world. I liked how small clippings of news story or something integral to the plot was insertedI really liked the main character, Noam. He was very well developed and he was fighting for his people.I also found Dara to be an intriguing character and want to know more about his history and what he went through. I feel like one of the supporting characters could have been more developed because we didn't get to know them enough. I had a suspicion on who the the main villain was but I kept going back and forth on who it was. I have a comparison to another villain in mind but that would give too much away. I don't know why but he gave me those vibes. I really enjoyed this book overall and can't wait to read the next book in the series and what else Victoria puts out. I would recommend this to anyone who loves fantasy and books set in a futuristic settings.4/5

Trust me. Read The Fever King and it will infect your mind like a magical virus, burrowing in and taking root, until you’re walking around accosting everything to try and induct them into your fangirl cult, just so you have more people to yell with about this thrilling, brilliant novel.

I like books that explore the ugly parts of life. I like books that show me the dark underbelly of being human, reveal the worst impulses inside of us. The Fever King is one of those rare books that made me question my own morals, with characters that wormed my way into my heart and fascinated me—and fascinate me still, even after the truth of some of them is revealed. That’s the heart of this novel for me: the characters, who leap to life off the page and contain so many multitudes. You sink right into Noam’s world from page one, the narrative voice vivid and immediate, and if you’re anything like me, soon you’ll be aching to climb into the book and wrap him in some blankets, or else shout at him to keep him out of trouble. Meet Dara, darling Dara, complicated and elusive, standoffish but so lovable. Read this book for the perfect way these two bounce off each other, a push and pull of love and hate, if nothing else.

And then there’s my favourite, but I’ll keep that a secret for now, to keep the mystery.

I’m biased, of course, but ultimately I say if you’ve a morbid curiosity for true crime podcasts, would be down to spend a wine and dine with Hannibal Lecter (any version, but particularly the Fuller TV show), or believe that Magneto is the real hero of the story and Professor X can screw off, this book is for you. For all the rest, wondering how it’s possible to sympathize with the devil, read this book anyways. Trust me, you’ll find out.

First of all, can I just say: COVERLY LOVE! And TITLE LOVE! Honestly, I had massive expectations going into this book, and FEVER KING did not disappoint. This is the sort of book I'll be recommending to people who sneer at YA as a genre of empty clichés; it deals with immigration, illness, corruption, and a waterfall of hard-hitting topics. It's not a light read by any means, but once you get into it, FEVER KING is *addicting* as heck. There's a fantastic mix of science and magic, and I loved the idea of magic as something pathological. The witchings in general were fascinating, I would take a bullet for Dara, and the strength of queer themes was just *gestures wildly* so refreshing. It's also the sort of book that's impossible to give justice to over the space of a review, but trust me: this is a series to look out for.