Published: November 12, 2024
Publisher: Ace
Series: The Shards of Magic #1
Genre: Fantasy, Romance
Pages: 463 (Kindle)
My Rating: 5 Stars
A copy of this book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Synopsis:
In the underground Fae realm, only the strongest and most ruthless have power—but a young human woman forced into a life of servitude is about to change everything.
Kenna Heron is best known in her village for being a little wild—some say “half feral”—but she’ll need every ounce of that ferocity to survive captivity in the cruel Fae court.
Trapped as a servant in the faeries’ underground kingdom of Mistei, Kenna must help her new mistress undertake six deadly trials, one for each branch of magic: Fire, Earth, Light, Void, Illusion, and Blood. If she succeeds, her mistress will gain immortality and become the heir to Earth House. If she doesn’t, the punishment is death—for both mistress and servant.
With no ally but a sentient dagger of mysterious origins, Kenna must face monsters, magic, and grueling physical tests. But worse dangers wait underground, and soon Kenna gets caught up in a secret rebellion against the inventively sadistic faerie king. When her feelings for the rebellion’s leader turn passionate, Kenna must decide if she’s willing to risk her life for a better world and a chance at happiness.
Surviving the trials and overthrowing a tyrant king will take cunning, courage, and an iron will… but even that may not be enough.
After finishing Servant of Earth just prior to the end of the year, I’m now wondering if I prepared my Best of 2024 list a smidge too early. This book was phenomenally entertaining and wraps up so many of my favorite things into a tidy package with a lovely cover. We have a competition element, fae, a questionable potential love interest, sneaky shenanigans, and a magic weapon!
Servant of Earth follows Kenna Heron, a young woman living on the outskirts of her small northern village that borders the fae lands. Every so many years, the four women between the ages of 20 and 30 are chosen to go to the fae where they live a glamorous life among these magical immortal beings… or so they think. Kenna sneaks along when her best friend is chosen so that she might guide her and the three other chosen women as far as she can through the dangerous marshlands but they come under attack and only Kenna makes it through thanks to a shape-changing dagger she dredged from the marsh. Now in the hands of the sadistic fae court, Kenna is assigned as a servant to the heir of Earth House as an insult to the traditionally neutral fae house and must help her new mistress to pass a series of six trials.
The trials take place over the course of the story which happens over several seasons and, fortunately, Kenna isn’t stuck in some horribly boring maze or something constantly fighting for her life. Earth House is actually quite supportive of their young Heir and they want Kenna to help her succeed, even though that most certainly puts her in danger. Kenna is now a spy, searching out tidbits of information from other Houses and sneaking about the secret passages of Earth House to get into each of the six trial locations. She also catches the eye of the Prince of Fire, Drustan, and an intimidating fae of Void House named Kallen who serves as spymaster to the king. While the trials themselves are fascinating in their diversity, the real fun is all the stuff that happens in between – the encounters with Drustan and Kallen, Kenna’s developing friendships with other servants, the humans, and even her mistress, Lara. I love that this isn’t all just action and that the development of secondary characters and interpersonal relationships is important and given a proper amount of time and space to grow organically.
Servant of Earth really swept me off my feet and I may have to remind myself to add it to my list of Best Books for 2025 since it just barely missed out on making my 2024 list. It has a definite lean toward political fantasy and it’s difficult to tell who Kenna can and should really be trusting and what their motivations might be. I love the sneaky, underhandedness of Kenna helping Lara with the trials and I love even more that the two of them develop a genuine friendship despite their difference in stations. The romantic element is also quite fun and has a surprising amount of spice in the few scenes that occur, so don’t make the mistake of mislabeling this as young adult. Servant of Earth also highlights the darker characteristics of the fae with gruesome executions and horrific treatment of the humans they steal away, so this isn’t just some cozy romantasy. This was a truly excellent read and I cannot wait to get my hands on the sequel! It’s also very different from Sarah Hawley’s other romantasy works, which are quite cozy and set in a modern magical version of our world – if that sounds like your thing, go check those out too!
Powder & Page 
Wow, 5 stars! I have an eARC of this I never got to, maybe I will have to squeeze it in!
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