In Hilverhem, rendered copper has long fueled wealth and progress. Controlled by the illustrious coppersmiths, it is revered and craved in equal measure. The remaining guilds are at its mercy, a fact that has long sown discord between them and necessitated loyalty to one’s guild above all others. Saskia van Beek has trained all her life to inherit the role of Guildmaster in Cartography—a charge her father has kept close to his chest, including their guild’s specialty: the stitch needed to craft a map of great power. When a poisoning leaves her father bedridden with little chance of recovery, Saskia is drawn into the dark underbelly of the guilds and a devious plot that threatens the stability of the entire city. For the motivations behind her father’s poisoning extend far beyond the Cartography guild. Someone stalks the streets of Hilverhem, murdering guild members and leaving behind a calling card: an iron coin placed beneath their victims’ tongues. Offered an antidote to save her father, Saskia must deliver the secret of her guild: a map to the city, inverted. Saskia’s only ally in this exchange is Nicholas, her friend since childhood and a member of the Metalworkers’ Guild. As the clock ticks down and the bodies continue to pile up, Saskia’s inheritance might not be her saving grace, but the thing that condemns her to the guild traitor’s fate.
Kalie Reid deftly unspools her next fantasy standalone: a tale of greed, poison, and the true cost of unchecked power. Copperstitched crests the pinnacle of gritty, atmospheric romantic fantasy, the kind that slivers deep within the skin to settle and meddle with the mind at odd hours. In a city rife with secrets, divided loyalties, and fractured alliances, two childhood friends investigate a plot that has the potential to throw their already unstable world into upheaval, all while avoiding the greater elephant in the room—romantic tension—and laying waste to their relationship to broach something more. Reid further hones her capacity for nuanced fantasy of this scope, grasping the threads of a myriad of tones and even genres to build out a complex world where magic meets industry. This book manages to give a historical romance feel while delivering Reid’s larger political scheme captured within a fantasy setting. When duo Saskia and Nicholas are not off chasing down their next lead or trekking through the inverted city, they are held captive within a classic friends to lovers narrative: one of torn duties and desires, and, of course, yearning. Copperstitched is everything I have come to associate with Kalie Reid. It’s yearning, it’s immersive, and it packs a punch. This is fantasy stitched with a careful hand, where every detail has been pored over and rendered with an exactitude that would leave even the most skilled coppersmith floored. Thank the fates we get to exist at the same time that Kalie Reid is creating.
Kalie Reid’s Copperstitched is the writing on the wall, the map if you will, to her as a romantic fantasy artiste. An author who delivers on every front, from earnest characters, to intriguing worlds, magic, and romances that make me want to gnaw off my own hand. Cast into the city of Hilverhem, Copperstitched first enthralled me not with its moody fantasy atmosphere (although it is excellent), but through Reid’s clever character work. A book is only as strong as its characters, after all, and this is something that Reid understands down to the line level. For a story with mystery uncovered, you need a duo on the case, and in Copperstitched that is embodied in characters Saskia and Nicholas. Restraint with a ferality lingering beneath the surface is Saskia’s way, whereas Nicholas is the flirtatious friend with a talent for craft and for showing up precisely whenever he is needed. Nicholas is such a crow-coded protagonist (collecting items like precious gems, appearing at Saskia’s window, etc). Saskia had me as the high-functioning achiever who never feels she will live up to her father’s expectations. I love these two and would have paid money just to be the third wheel in their investigation. Fitting the romance into the mystery is an achievement of its own because it is quite extensive. Copperstitched’s version of romance is just: Nicholas tempting Saskia by showing up in her workshop at all hours with his linen shirts on display, making her things, and continuing to be there when she strikes out alone. You may call these mundane; I call them the height of romance!!!
There is no other way of describing the immense rush I get from reading Kalie Reid’s work than this: pure obsession. I’m happy whenever I get to dive into a new fantasy world of hers, where I know the story will stick and the characters will linger long after it has ended. One thing I crave is works that enjoy delving into a larger study, giving you something to weigh and parse. This was true of The Sacred Space Between, and it is also true of Copperstitched. In a city of copper and greed, a string of mysterious deaths leads to revelations around magic and the necessity of power having a cost. Uncovering the plot felt like wandering the halls of Kalie’s mind, with her insightful look into power and what it cultivates. I love stories where there is a cost to magic and advancement, how often it is inherently exploitative, working its way to stripping people of their autonomy. The various uses for copper are endlessly fascinating—the maps Saskia crafts, the objects peddled at markets, and the forbidden blood aspect of copper. This is a world rent in two by copper and who can access it—who is forced to cower at the mercy of those who hold the power, and what happens when a person makes their narrative everyone else’s problem. Copperstitched is a bracing magical mystery with a contemplating truth, holding up a mirror to systems of power and our places in them. This is the kind of story where you walk in as one person and leave completely transformed. It’s as if this book has rendered me different.
Thank you to Edelweiss and the publisher for providing the advance review copy.
Trigger warnings: death, blood, poisoning, near-drowning
