Starred Review Brienna has never really known where she comes from; her long-dead mother hails from Valenia, where Brienna lives, while the father she's never known comes from the rival kingdom of Maevana. She also struggles to know where she's going; since she was 10, Brienna has lived at Magnalia, a school that trains young women in the mastery of one of the five passions (art, music, dramatics, wit, and knowledge). Brienna, who never showed particular aptitude for any passion, has spent the last three years of her training attempting to master knowledge. Now 17, she fails to secure a patron at the end of her training, and finds herself adrift again, until a secretive lord with a mysterious past offers to take her on. The kingdom of Maevana was once ruled by magical queens, until a tyrannical man overthrew them, and Brienna learns that her patron lost almost everything in that war. Now he's devoted to restoring the rightful queen, and her magic, to the throne. Torn between two countries and multiple potential futures, Brienna has difficult choices to make. Sophisticated plotting is the hallmark of this debut, which deftly navigates complex, treasonous plots and political intrigue. Brienna herself, unsure but brave and passionate, is an admirable narrator, and her struggles to belong and understand enhance this stunning literary adventure.

An illegitimate girl who hopes to find her creative passion may be connected to another kingdom's magical history.At 10, white, orphaned Brienna was brought to Magnalia House. For the last seven years she's studied to become an arden, an apprentice passion, with the goal of finding her patron. The arden-sisters study art, dramatics, music, wit, and knowledge; Brienna, who has no true vocation, has eccentrically studied in all the fields. Though she doesn't truly belong among the talented (and somewhat racially diverse) noble girls of Magnalia House, they are her beloved friends. Perhaps once she's passioned, she can even act on her romantic feelings for the white knowledge master. But Brienna's having strange visions lately; could they be ancestral memories of an unknown forbear from the neighboring country? What with romance, jealousy, family drama, betrayals, ancient magical history, and characters with multiple secret identities, there's a nigh-constant pitch of throbbing…well, passion. A voice is like "tamed thunder," and hair is like "a stream of silver." Malapropisms abound ("punctures of laughter"; "her beauty warbled by the mullioned windows"). Oddly, most of the shocking revelations of back story are openly detailed in the lengthy family trees at the novel's opening.There's some originality here, though it's hard to unearth amid all the melodrama. (Fantasy. 13-15)