“Volterra. The ninth of April, 1478. They put her little brother in a cage. Her brother, who wasn’t so little anymore, but because Ravenna Maffei was older, she would always think of him that way. Antonio hung in a wrought iron cage for a full day before the Florentine army allowed her to see him. And even then, it was only from a distance, just close enough to see his long legs dangling fifteen feet over the Piazza del Priori, just close enough to see his grubby hands curled around the bars in a tight grip.”
That’s the opening to chapter one of Isabel Ibanez’s historical fantasy novel Graceless Heart. Ravenna helps her parents run their inn, but she is also a sculptress with some magic simmering within her. She enters a sculpture contest in hopes of winning her brother’s freedom. The judges are the Luni, a family of immortals who guard the ruling Medici family.
Ravenna wins the contest with the help of a magic gemstone that she incorporates into the sculpture. The Luni are desperate for a sculptor who can chisel out four other magic gemstones from the blocks of stone in which they have been encased.
They force Ravenna to come back to their palazzo and work on the stones. But they are not the only ones interested in the gemstones. The Pope (who is killing anyone with magic) secretly uses magic himself to find the stones and the woman who put them there. This is an engrossing read with magic, romance, a ticking clock, and even some jousting.
If you’re a fan of historical fantasy, then you must read Graceless Heart by Isabel Ibanez.
