Book Review: "In a Garden Burning Gold"

Rory Power's new book is a beautifully crafted exploration of family, trauma, and power.

In a Garden Burning Gold, the new novel from Rory Power, first came to my attention when I saw in a review that it was, at least partially, based on the history and culture of Byzantium. If you know anything about me, you know that I am gaga for anything related to that particular polity, and so I rushed to my local library to get a copy. While it isn’t quite as Byzantine-adjacent as I’d been led to believe, it is still nevertheless a compelling and densely-woven story, and I very much enjoyed it.

At its heart, it’s a story about a dysfunctional family, led by Vasilis Argyros, a powerful Stratagiozi, a warlord with tremendous sorcerous powers (in his case, over death itself). His two eldest children, Lexos and Rhea, have been gifted with the power over the tides and the night sky and with bringing about the chance of seasons, respectively. Vasilis rules over his household with an iron fist, with consequences that become increasingly grave, both for the family and for their entire world. 

Of the two siblings, Rhea at first shows the most willingness to buck her father’s authority, choosing a consort that was not his own choice. Lexos, meanwhile, primarily wants to help their father, though he increasingly comes to realize just how much that is going to cost him. There’s no question, however, that their relationship is the most important for both of them, even as they both grow increasingly frustrated with the other. As they are each drawn to different parts of the continent, they find their destinies diverging, while a sinister rot takes hold at the heart of their family.

There is more than a little bit of Greek tragedy permeating In a Garden Burning Gold, in that these are characters who are genuinely trying to do the best they can, all while they are led astray by their own best efforts. In fact, both Lexos and Rhea, in their own way, want to make the world a better place, but they find their efforts subverted by their own lack of knowledge about the other’s true motivations. It’s to Power’s credit that she allows us to sympathize with these characters, even as we, as readers, know that some of their actions aren’t nearly as savvy as they think they are.

While Rhea and Lexos are the novel’s two viewpoint characters, we also get a number of other fascinating personages. Obviously there is their domineering father, a man who is so convinced of his own rightness that he cannot, or will, not treat his children as anything other than his own pawns. Nitsos, the black sheep of the family, is far more sinister and skilled at manipulation than he lets on. And finally there is also Chrystanthi, one of the few members of the Argyros family who, at least as we know so far, seems to have a good heart.

And, given that this is fantasy, there is quite a lot of world-building. The twins and their family are but part of a patchwork of other powerful families, all of whom have their own ambitions and their own desires. Of especial note is Michali Laskaris, the young man that Rhea chooses for her consort but who is secretly leading a rebellion against her father. Their bond becomes one of the more important in the novel, even as it is also doomed to the same kind of tragedy that afflicts most of the characters in one way or another. 

Narratively, there are some lovely twists and turns on the way, some of which leave the characters almost prostrate with defeat and despair. Just as importantly, there are also some powerful revelations that tear apart the tissue of lies that the Stratagiozi have built up around their tyrannical rule. Most of these revolve around the saints who were formerly to be found on the continent but whose powers were stripped away and given into the hands of those who overthrew them. 

More prosaically, Power is an exquisite prose stylist. She knows how to capture the contours of this fascinating and strange world, and though it does take a bit of getting used to, I found that I just abandoned myself the mysteriousness of it all. She has a keen eye for detail, and there were many moments where I truly did feel as if I was right there with the characters, experiencing all of their heartaches and joys (to be sure, there are more of the former than the latter as the book goes on). For this reason alone, the book is worth a read. 

If I have one complaint, it’s that the book doesn’t come with a map. Once upon a time, it was impossible to imagine a fantasy novel of this type not coming with this most crucial of all aspects of the genre, but for some reason there isn’t one. Thus, it can be a bit difficult at times to orient oneself spatially and, given that this book is very much about the political maneuverings of its various characters, it can be very hard to figure out just where everyone is at a given time. I’m hesitant to lay this at Power’s door, since I’m fairly certain this is due to the publisher, but I do hope that fantasy publishers remember that it’s really important for a reader to be able to figure out where things are (this is also true of TV adaptations, by the way).

Overall, however, I was very impressed with this book, and even more so that it is intended to be part of a duology rather than the more typical trilogy. Power has a firm grasp of the story that she’s setting out to tell, and by keeping it so firmly focused on the fraught dynamics between the two siblings, she keeps us riveted to the page, waiting to see just what happens next. 

Though I don’t know what’s in store for Rhea or Lexos, I do know one thing is for sure: I can’t wait to find out what happens.