Silver in the Mist by Emily Victoria

Eight years ago, everything changed for Devlin: Her country was attacked. Her father was killed. And her mother became the Whisperer of Aris, the head of the spies, retreating into her position away from everyone… even her daughter.

Joining the spy ranks herself, Dev sees her mother only when receiving assignments. She wants more, but she understands the peril their country, Aris, is in. The malevolent magic force of The Mists is swallowing Aris’s edges, their country is vulnerable to another attack from their wealthier neighbor, and the magic casters who protect them from both are burning out.

Dev has known strength and survival her whole life, but with a dangerous new assignment of infiltrating the royal court of their neighbor country Cerena to steal the magic they need, she learns that not all that glitters is weak. And not all stories are true.

---

It's a mixed review in bullet points! I have a lot of thoughts about this one and I think bullet points are the way to go.

• Love the descriptions. The broken down, war torn country; the prosperous country beside it; the mists, the people, the outfits. Everything is amazing.
• Seriously, the contrasts between Aris and Cerena are unbelievable.
• I couldn't really get a handle on Dev. Her character seemed to flip flop a lot.
• Speaking of Dev, and this one is important enough that I'm taking it out of the bullet points;

This was advertised as having an Ace main character. Dev doesn't have a romantic relationship, and she thinks, once, something along the lines of  "If I were attracted to girls, or anybody, I'd be attracted to her." That's literally it. Have we really reached the point where no explicit romance is enough to label something as Ace? There's no romance in Thor: Ragnarok. Are they all Ace as well? I love that publishers are trying to include more gender and sexual preferences but it's got to be better than this.

Right. Back to the bullet points.

• Magic system; cool but not explained well enough.
• Different versions of the same story in different countries; A plus! Of course it would happen that way.
• Seriously the descriptions of Dev's disguise dresses, may I have please?
  
• Love the thought and work that's clearly gone into these countries and their backstories, but it's not explained to the reader well enough.
• Why is the plan "gain your target's trust, do a thing that will immediately destroy that trust, then kidnap her" ? Surely those steps are a bit out of order?

It's not a bad read all in all. A lot of thought has clearly gone into it. But the mislabeling really sticks in my craw, and I think the story needed to be clearer. I do hope it does well though, and I hope Emily writes more, she's clearly got the imagination for it.

Silver in the Mist publishes today, 8th of December 2022. I received a free copy and am giving an honest review.