Mazes of Power by Juliette Wade – Review

Published: February 4, 2020

Publisher: DAW Books

Series: The Broken Trust #1

Genre: Fantasy

Pages: 416 (Hardcover)

My Rating: DNF

A copy of this book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Synopsis:

This debut work of sociological science fiction follows a deadly battle for succession, where brother is pitted against brother in a singular chance to win power and influence for their family.

The cavern city of Pelismara has stood for a thousand years. The Great Families of the nobility cling to the myths of their golden age while the city’s technology wanes.

When a fever strikes, and the Eminence dies, seventeen-year-old Tagaret is pushed to represent his Family in the competition for Heir to the Throne. To win would give him the power to rescue his mother from his abusive father, and marry the girl he loves.

But the struggle for power distorts everything in this highly stratified society, and the fever is still loose among the inbred, susceptible nobles. Tagaret’s sociopathic younger brother, Nekantor, is obsessed with their family’s success. Nekantor is willing to exploit Tagaret, his mother, and her new servant Aloran to defeat their opponents.

Can he be stopped? Should he be stopped? And will they recognize themselves after the struggle has changed them?

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I debated whether or not to actually review Mazes of Power since I DNF’d (Did Not Finish) it, but since I read ~150 pages I figured I read enough to have a solid opinion. That being said, I will keep this short.

This is a weird world – people reside in cavern cities and there are strict castes consisting of nobles, bodyguards, artisans, laborers etc. Societal divides are such that even male and female nobles rarely interact and their bodyguards are there to enforce it. Tagaret, our main character is the eldest son of a prominent noble house and after the sudden death of the Eminence, he is in running to become the Heir. Tagaret doesn’t really want this but his father certainly does and pushes him along. His younger brother Nekantor is also keenly interested in advancing the family’s status and influence. 

All of this sounds like a plot I would enjoy and I almost did. It was interesting enough that I read about a third of the book, but it was a bit of a struggle at times. I couldn’t stand Nekantor and he did have his own POV chapters. Total sociopath (it even says so in the synopsis). Tagaret was mostly likable, if rather weak and reliant on others but he didn’t capture me. In fact, none of the characters captured my attention and the plot was bland interspersed with enough excitement that I held out. I was expecting a book of political intrigue, so it’s not like I had expected an action packed book where the pace was 100mph the whole time. 

This just didn’t work out for me, though I really wanted it to and pushed through it for quite awhile. The society was interesting and there were facets that I desperately wanted to know more about, but I ultimately decided my time was better spent with another book.