Please note this review contains spoilers for the former books in this series, Shardless & Acolyte, and contains references to some of the events in this sequel. Read with caution.
Talya Caro survived an entire year within Queen Azura’s time loop, honing her magic for the threat to come, of which she knows precious little. Now reunited with Skylen and his wounded and demanding brother Kato, the three have begun the long trek back to Ryme through the wilderness. As Taly, Skye, and Kato return it becomes imperative they maintain the narrative that Taly is human and not the last of the time mages once hunted to extinction. Still reeling from the Shade attacks, Ryme has refortified but now a plague is sweeping through the human populace threatening so much more than just the shardless. In spite of the unrest, Taly is finally back with Skye, her friend and great love, and her family, which would be enough if not for her magic placing a target on her back. For Skye the knowledge that Taly will always be hunted draws him down a dark path where he risks harnessing a bloodcraft power that could destroy him from the inside out, if he is not first caught and imprisoned. Something stalks the shadows biding its time, and with the Aion Gate close to alignment Taly knows time is the one thing she doesn’t have—before lines are drawn and she is forced to decide what side she’s truly on.
Just me and my emotional support thousand page fantasy novel I’ve waited five years to read against the world. Dawnbringer is the long awaited third installment in Stephanie Fisher’s Tempris Pentalogy, a fantasy series set within an island sundered by magic where time mages are hunted and citizens are left bereft of the magic needed to travel between realms. A hodgepodge of fae realms—modern and fantastical, time mages gone rogue, zombie-like threats, and mages of all kinds mark this rare romantic fantasy series. Encompassed in a steampunk-esque world with regency social strata, it’s safe to say Tempris is atypical of anything else within this genre. Five years since the book that started it all, Shardless, and the cliffhanger of its successor, and this third installment is unquestionably worth every wait. Simultaneously the most romantic and traumatizing thing ever, Dawnbringer raises the stakes with a deadly plot spanning worlds and our spunky hero Taly at the center, trapped between her old life and a predetermined fate. Stephanie Fisher reunites her lovers Skye and Taly on the brink, with dark bloodcraft magic taking hold and timelines colliding. With time magic in the mix, the tension and angst are dialed up to the max and nothing is more devastating than being left in its wake.
After five years and six rereads of the first two books in this series, who is to say I don’t have a soul bond with the entire Tempris series? From discovering it during the depths of the pandemic to now, every time I reread Tempris I’m reminded of how excellent it truly is. Stephanie Fisher has a firm hold on her world building, character arcs, and romance—a virtuoso painstakingly taking apart her narrative and layering in lore, timelines, and differing streams of magic. Dawnbringer takes everything from the first two books and elevates it in an overwhelming mix of romance and emotional devastation. And I expected nothing less from Stephanie Fisher. We have timelines colliding, interdimensional beasts, a big bad threat: Aneirin or “Bill” (a nickname only Taly could have come up with), and just general tomfoolery ensuing. In the time since the first two books were published we were left with many questions. Mainly: what is the great threat closing in on the island of Tempris. At long last we have an answer, and the threat is indeed cataclysmic. With Taly facing down her fate and attempting to have it all, Dawnbringer acts as a stepping stone for the next stage of this series where its titular character is the deciding force in a timeline set before her birth. The secret recipe in this novel is tension, tension, tension, and it can be felt in every facet of the narrative.
Dawnbringer proves that families that destroy together stay together—for the most part. Where the first two books dealt primarily with Taly coming into her identity as a time mage and reconciling a violent past that led to the death of her biological mother and her uncle, Dawnbringer is altogether different. Back in Ryme, Taly reunites with her adoptive parents, Ivain and Sarina, and her cousins, Aiden and Aimee, friend and general nuisance respectively. There are plenty of difficult conversations and the reorienting of previous dynamics now that Taly’s heritage has been made known, but we finally get to see this family unit be just that—a team. How else are you supposed to trick an entire population of fae into believing a time mage is not walking amongst them? Two characters stole most of my attention in this sequel: Aimee and Kato, the brash brother of Skylen. Kato has been an unequivocal favorite of mine even before this novel but I can now confidently say I am begging for a romance between him and Aimee. Something about arrogant men and the mean women who hold them in check is a dynamic I crave deeply. As Dawnbringer progresses, timelines layer and future versions of our characters flit in and out of the present. In an action packed final act, Fisher tests her found family in a violent stand against the Sanctifiers as the opening of the Aion Gate looms ever closer and Taly is caught between her past and the choice hinted at so long ago. It’s as painful as I anticipated and yet somehow that did not prepare me for the weight of it, nor the aftermath.
Five years separate the publication of Dawnbringer from the beginning foundations of the Tempris series, but you wouldn’t be able to tell from the seamless way Fisher integrates her three novels and dawns a new era. Everything in this novel is heightened: the fate of multiple worlds, the precarious balance of the central timeline, and of course our star crossed lovers, Taly and Skye. While her family faces down a plague and an organization dedicated to eradicating those that can manipulate time, a darker threat emerges intent on harnessing Taly’s magic. With a thousand pages (at least in the ebook), no amount of page time is wasted as Fisher dives into the inner workings of Tempris and begins to uplift her previously called upon events—like the reveal of what Taly was asked to say no to by Queen Azura all those months ago. The interjections from Cori, the lil homage to Orphan Black, and the cute moments with Calcifer brought on some necessary humor to outweigh the darker parts of this novel. Speaking of which, Skylen’s descent into bloodcraft magic tied as an extent of his love for Taly. That he would willingly twist himself from the inside out just to have a chance at protecting her was not just thoughtfully developed, it was romantic as hell. In Dawnbringer, the last of the time mages takes a stand and Stephanie Fisher proves she has the power to not only take this series to new heights but to new levels of pain inflicted upon her readers. This series continues to be far too underrated for my liking. I lament both the ending and the fact that I cannot commiserate with others on that incredible cliffhanger.
Trigger warnings: death, blood, murder, violence
Literaryrobin 