Beth Cato delivers page-turning fantasy adventure in the first two of her Blood of Earth series, Breath of Earth and Call of Fire. In Breath of Earth, her central character, Ingrid Carmichael, knows she controls magical geomancy—even though women aren’t supposed to have these inborn powers. But Ingrid does not realize that her gender is not the only unusual feature of her geomancy talents. She’s about to discover everything else about her magic—if the world survives those revelations. A hero of emerging skills and might, who can tip the balance of the world—politically and physically—makes for an exciting plot and fast-paced action, and I love all of that, but Cato gives her reader even more. She’s built an alternative history (set in 1906) that flips the prism through which we understand our society. By changing history a couple notches on the dial, but not abandoning Earth and the U.S., she gives the reader amazing perspective on our “real” world and past, all while wildly entertaining us. Some of the old, expected prejudices and assumptions are there in her new version of history, some familiar world alliances and leaders are there, but nothing from the past is quite how we unquestioningly believe it to be. In the very best of ways, Cato will mess with your thinking. At a moment in the United States when leaders choose to abandon trusted international alliances, feed racial hatred and stereotypes, and remove social safety nets, a book that provides an imaginative prism to explore these same sorts of problems and alliances offers a deep read. The fact that you’ll have so much fun is a grand bonus. So, for example, in Cato’s portrayal, Japan and the United States are allied and trying for world domination together. The veneer of democracy has mostly vanished. They are aiming their worse weapons against a collapsing China. They use anti-Chinese fearmongering to powerful effect. Theodore Roosevelt isn’t President, he’s an ambassador with magical protections and rogue beliefs. There was more to that famous 1906 earthquake in San Francisco than faulty fault lines. There are some magical creatures of epic scale and danger. Also, Cato develops some truly terrifying powers on the villains’ side, so Ingrid’s survival will matter a lot to you. Ingrid better overcome the foes arrayed against her because no sane person wants what they are offering. I’m not looking forward to the world as envisioned by these alt-hist bad guys and I enjoyed seeing them undermined, and that may be a very useful exercise in brain stretching for those of us living right now in the “real” world’s history.
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