Honor & Heresy

A duo races to understand a threat to their city in Francis’s ambitious but underbaked queer dark academia debut. In a world where scholarship is punishable by death, bookish noble Roy Dawnseve, 25, is given a choice by the despotic governor: either join the fight against the unstoppable Old Ones or be given six months in the haunted Orphic Basilica, an ancient library, to discover some way to defeat this fearsome enemy. When Roy discovers that another scholar, Percival Atherton, has been given the same task, he hopes they might work together, only to be snubbed and condescended to. Still, as the building itself seems to direct their efforts by blowing important documents their way, the two men, each haunted by traumas, start to work together. The narrative leans increasingly into fantasy as ghosts, powerful swords, and a never-ending snowstorm raise the stakes. While Francis builds a rich world and has a flair for high fantasy language, the plot vacillates between plodding and confusing and the eventual romance feels rushed. This has the atmosphere and trappings of an exciting tale but never quite coalesces. Agent: Thao Le, Sandra Dijkstra Literary. (Apr.)