Summary
Death is Velamir’s close acquaintance. As a student in the Chishman academy, he cannot escape the brutal war. When he’s sent on a mission with three fellow academy cadets, Velamir returns to the Empire, the land of his birth. Calamity befalls the group as they trek through enemy territory, and Velamir learns a part of his past that makes the mission far more personal. Burdened with the deaths of the unavenged and the chance of losing his own life, Velamir must decide if revenge is worth the cost.
Natassa knows her role well: The silent and obedient girl. The one who looks away from the torture her father, the emperor, inflicts on the Empire’s inhabitants. The princess. But she’s a shackled prisoner, and somewhere under the mask is a spark of rebellion. When she learns of her father’s intention to marry her to a man she loathes, Natassa crafts a risky plan of her own—one dangerous enough to get her killed.
Two searching hearts. Two perilous paths. Velamir must find the courage to face his past and Natassa must find the strength to face herself before the war consumes them both.
Review
When I’m reading a book to review I usually try to think about what kind of readers will enjoy the book I’m reviewing. Who might like the plot, the characters, the magic, the writing style etc. Conversely, I also try to imagine what readers will not enjoy certain aspects of this particular book and why. I did the same thing while reading The Cavalier, and basically came away with the conclusion that if you like medieval fantasy, you will like this book. While certainly not without flaw, this novel strikes all the right notes without committing so far into any element that it will drive away groups of readers. There is a side romance that is compelling without becoming the focus of the story. There is plenty of action to entertain readers who enjoy that but not too much to dissuade those who don’t like military fantasy. The magic is subtle but important, and while definitely being what you could describe as a soft system, it also has rules and limits. It is the epitome of what could be called mainline medieval fantasy, and maybe that in itself will drive certain readers away but for me, I had a wonderful time reading a book that felt familiar but with its own spin.
There are a few different POV characters in The Cavalier but I’m going to focus on our two main POVs. Velamir is a recently graduated Chishman, the special group of elite warriors from his nation. Along with a small group of his peers, they are sent on a special mission that I won’t get into for spoiler reasons, but it involves going into the territory of their enemy, simply known as the Empire. Natassa is the daughter of the emperor of said Empire, mistreated and undervalued her whole life, she wants to do something to fix the broken system her family has created, so she sets off on her own dangerous plan. I think you can guess something of where their paths take them, though I will note the plot isn’t simplistic by any means and there will be twists you don’t see coming.
The Cavalier is certainly a character-driven novel. The plot focuses heavily on our characters and though I don’t consider myself a character-driven reader, I found myself drawn into the story throughout the course of the book because of the connection the author makes to our main POVs. There are a number of side characters, and many get various amounts of POV chapters. We also get POV chapters from our antagonists, which is something I always like reading. I do have to note though, that while I found the characters compelling, I also found them to be often one-dimensional. That is not to say simplistic, there are definitely complex characters, but I found that each character had a defining characteristic and I could often predict what they would do next. Or if a character did change their mind, it felt very abrupt and unearned. This is something I’ve come across plenty of times before, and seems common in debut authors so while it wasn’t enough to ruin the book by any means, I am interested to see how the author progresses in the subsequent books of the series.
The novel is paced very well, it never felt too slow or rushed, and I was engrossed throughout. As I mentioned previously there is a good amount of action scenes that I found to be well written and thrilling, but it wasn’t constant combat either. I found the magic to be very interesting as well. The Empire oppresses magic users so as a society it feels like there is a lot of untapped potential in the magic and that is something I am really excited to see develop in the series. In regards to the structure of the book, if I were to have one criticism it would be with the frequent POV hopping. I didn’t go back and check but I’m pretty sure every single chapter changed POV, and A LOT of chapters ended on mini-cliffhangers. In many other multi-POV books, the use of a cliffhanger at the end of a chapter, only to change POV in the next, can be used to great effect. In this book however, it happened so frequently that I quickly learned to just ignore it so it wasn’t effective when it could have been. Kind of like the story of the boy who cries wolf. I would consider that more of a minor critique though, and not something that actively harmed my reading experience.
In the end I really enjoyed my time reading this book and I will certainly continue with the series. I often search for and enjoy new, weird stuff in my fantasy books but there is something to be said for going back to the classics. The Cavalier is a shining example of how you don’t need to think up something crazy or super unique to write great fantasy. It takes many of the tropes we know and love in fantasy, adds some fresh takes to them, and wonderfully weaves a thrilling story.