The Electric Heir: 04/10/20

The Electric Heir by Victoria Lee is the conclusion to the Feverwake duology that began with Fever King (2019). It's six months after the overthrow of the Carolinia government and the Atlantians have gained citizenship. Lehrer, no longer king, is chancellor and Noam has been his lover in the absence of Dara.

But cracks are beginning to show in this post coup life. Noam has realized how much Lehrer has been controlling him, using mind magic to gaslight him. He finds a way to protect himself but he's still stuck in an abusive relationship even if he's no longer being mind controlled.

Meanwhile Dara's working for the resistance. The goal is rid Carolinia of Lehrer once and for all. It's a high order for a man who is well guarded and essentially immortal.

From the perspective of the Road Narrative Spectrum, The Electric Heir signals a shift in our understanding of the post pandemic world of the Feverwake. In the first book, the narrative was framed in the perspective of Noam, a recent orphan and survivor of the illness, now with newly acquired magical abilities. In The Electric Heir the narrative POV is shared between Noam and Dara, and is re-contextualized given what we've learned about both of them over the course of the duology.

The Electric Heir has two travelers, Noam and Dara, who as travelers share the minotaur / scarecrow (99) dichotomy. While most of the book isn't a road narrative, the means to their desired goal is within a journey to Texas, specifically to its capital city (00). The routes taken are off-road ones (66). All together this second book is about the journey of a scarecrow and minotaur to the city via offroad routes (990066).

As the goal remains the city between books, the change in spectrum placement is nearly flat, shifting from the most powerful of the fantasy travelers to the least. Both books also skim right above the area where horror is defined and this duology certainly does have elements of horror (pandemic, dystopian society, mind control, etc.).

Victoria Lee's next book is A Lesson in Vengeance and is scheduled for publication sometime in 2021.

Four stars

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