FORMAT/INFO: The Court of Venus was published on September 29th, 2026 by Tor Books. It is 416 pages long and available in hardcover, ebook, and audiobook formats.

OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: The Court of Venus is a tale of intrigue set inside the court of a mad king, where the alignment of the stars literally influences your fate. In this world, magicians are people who were born under certain celestial conditions, with the ruling planet at the time of their birth influencing their domain of magic. Jupiterborn can influence luck, Venusborn can read and influence desires, and Moonborn magicians (like our protagonist Bianca) can shapeshift and read memories. I really enjoyed how this magic system is continuously influenced by planetary alignments; Bianca's powers, for instance, wax and wane with the moon. She is almost powerless when it's a new moon but at the height of her powers when the moon is full. Venusborns on the other hand, find they are most powerful at dawn and dusk each day. It's a system that has some fixed rules, but is also fluid and not fully understood by the magicians themselves, and they are always chasing new knowledge that will help them better manipulate their abilities.

This is also a court intrigue tale and a satisfying mystery is presented. Bianca has returned to court to discover what happened to her childhood friend, the prince, who died under mysterious circumstances four years ago. That death was written off as a riding accident, but Bianca is convinced that something more nefarious happened. But is it connected to the threads of a current plot in the court? Was it because of an outside agent from a rival kingdom? Was it something else entirely? There's quite a bit going on in this tale, and Bianca has to sort it all out without running afoul of a dying, paranoid king who seems to execute people on a whim.

Tangling things even further is that the king's closest advisor is Roland, a Venusborn magician who was also a friend of Bianca's and the prince. But is he still someone Bianca can trust? Or has his own desire for power made him a dangerous enemy? Watching the two verbally spar and try to figure out how much they can trust each other made sparks fly, and I enjoyed the slow burn of this relationship. It's always hard to throw readers into a pre-existing relationship and make them understand the complexities of emotions in that bond, but I think the author did a pretty good job.

The one thing that held me back was this is a more aloof writing style that I felt stopped me from fully connecting with the characters. Once or twice some dangerous circumstances were over somewhat abruptly, preventing me from sinking into the story. There's enough good things going on here that I still recommend this story overall, but for me personally it was just short of the spark that would have knocked the book out of the park. That being said, I will be back for part two of this duology, because I do want to see what fate is written in the stars for these characters.