When artist and seer Pamela Colman Smith returns to London, she quickly discovers someone else has also returned: her arch nemesis, Aleister Crowley. And the timing is no coincidence. Pamela has been tasked with creating a tarot deck for high society members, and Aleister wants access to her magic, and will stop at nothing to get it. But she won’t give up so easily. 

When local theater star and friend of Pamela, Ellen, gets poisoned and nearly dies, Pamela discovers that Aleister is trying to assassinate all of her muses. When she tries to warn the men in charge, they quickly dismiss her. So, Pamela has to take things into her own hands. 

Second in the Arcana Oracle series (but can be read as a standalone), High Priestess and Empress by Susan Wands is a book that has every element I would typically enjoy in a fantasy novel, but it just cannot live up to the promises it makes. The plot is mostly historical fiction with some pretty basic fantastical elements and I found myself bored throughout what are supposed to be suspenseful scenes. The action scenes don’t last long enough to leave any significant impact on the reader. I found myself starting to skim, which only happens when a book is not entertaining for me. 

A pettier reason for my distaste for this book lies in the nickname Pamela has for Bram Stoker, real life author of Dracula and one of the main characters in this story: “Uncle Brammie”. This is a grown woman calling a father figure “Uncle Brammie” and it is used so many times it was legitimately infuriating to read. It took me out of the story every time, and I would bet on it being used about 100 times, in a little over a 300 page book. I don’t understand why this was the nickname Wands chose to go with, and I would advise this to never be done again, especially in a book by adults for adults. If this was middle grade, MAYBE I would be okay with it, but the immaturity was so off-putting. 

There was one element I did enjoy, and that was the excruciatingly accurate representation of misogyny. The whole book has men discounting what Pamela is trying to tell them, even when her friends see and experience the things happening, because they are women and it must be “group delusions.” Also, the criticism of women wanting to vote and be childfree from those same men was incredibly accurate for the time (and unfortunately in many ways, our time as well).

Overall, I think Wands bit off more than she could chew in this story, and nothing felt truly fleshed out. I also wonder if I am perhaps not the ideal age to appreciate this story, because other than the “Uncle Brammie” situation, this book definitely reads as if it is for an older crowd. This isn’t a bad thing, it just means I may not be the target audience, despite the blurb sounding right up my alley. 

If you are typically a fan of indie cozy fantasy, you may still enjoy this book. It certainly was not my cup of tea, but it may very well be yours! 

High Priestess and Empress releases on May 14th, 2024. Thank you to Hanna at Spark Point Press for sending me an Advanced Reader’s Copy of this title in exchange for an honest review. All opinions reflected here are my own.

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