By Sinclair Adams
Cursebreakers is a powerful debut novel by fantasy writer Madeleine Nakamura. Set in a magic-filled world adjacent to our own, we follow professor of magic Adrien Desfourneaux as he works to uncover a conspiracy that is splitting factions in their fragile society. There is no shortage of enemies who want Adrien to use his powers for their own gain, and even Adrien’s own allies are not always on his side. To prevent a disaster from occurring, Adrien must navigate his relationships with his closest friends, the nature of his own magic, and his struggling mental health that underpins it all.
The book’s biggest strength is in its character’s voice. Adrien is one of the most compelling book protagonists I’ve ever read. The narrative reads from his point of view as he tries to explain just how he got into this situation, and there is much brutal honesty about the events. Adrien suffers from what is cleverly referred to in the worldbuilding as “akrasia,” akin to bipolar disorder, in which he seasonally toggles between extreme states of mania and depression. The story does not shy away from displaying the struggles of mental health issues, as Adrien is aware of his own weaknesses and self-destructive habits. But the narrative doesn’t romanticize mental illness, either, as we see how it negatively takes a toll on Adrien and those around him.
Built around Adrien is a cast of equally compelling and flawed friends. Gennady is a young, troubled soldier who becomes Adrien’s begrudging accomplice in spying on a corrupted faction of magic professors and power-hungry soldiers. Malise is Adrien’s best friend and therapeutic magic healer who sometimes has difficulty toeing the line between physician and confidant. Most interesting is Casmir, a stoic man Adrien is desperately in love with, but who is also tasked with the responsibility of being Adrien’s “keeper” as Adrien swings between manic and depressive states to make sure Adrien is practicing good judgment.
Adrien is a protagonist whose qualities are enhanced by his interactions with the supporting cast. He himself is a tremendously flawed character, capable of both self-loathing and pride, and prone to making impulsive decisions with disastrous consequences. But through interactions with his friends, we see different sides of him, like different shards of a shattered mirror. Gennady, Malise, and Casmir each bring out something different in Adrien, making his character motives deeper and more compelling as the story continues.
For a fantasy book, there is more attention spent on characters and their development over worldbuilding. While I do enjoy worldbuilding and having deeper context to the fantasy books I read, I found that Nakamura struck a perfect balance so that the story was able to stand on its own without pages and pages of exposition. So much about the society is inferred from context clues. The character Gennady is a soldier, and all soldiers are accompanied by a “rache,” a dog-like animal that is soul-bonded with its assigned human. The story doesn’t explain where raches come from or how they are paired with their human, but it leaves enough for the imagination so that you as the reader can draw your own conclusions. Gennady and his partner rache are so charming that needing a deep explanation of how it works stops becoming important.
Another considerable gap in Cursebreaker’s worldbuilding is the larger world itself. While it’s lightly implied that there is nothing beyond their civilization, and there are allusions to governmental structure, most of the story’s action takes place in this world’s magic academia. The story is a self-contained episode inside a larger fantasy world, and that is exactly what it needs to be. Nakamura’s scope as a writer is impeccable with each chapter.
The only thing this story was really lacking was compelling antagonists. There are no plot twist villains or complicated backstories that guide the bad guys’ motivations. The advantage to this is that it leaves more time to explore Adrien’s own faults as a character. It might be possible to say that there are no real “bad guys” or “good guys” in this story, and it’s just people trying to either gain power or keep peace – a very true-to-life conflict for a fantasy story.
In the world of Cursebreakers, magic appears in the form of science, medicine, and even drugs. Seeing a magic system integrated into all facets of society, constructive and destructive, adds a bitter edge to a genre that is often associated with children’s stories. Cursebreakers possesses the imagination of a classic magic world, without the inconsequential whimsy. Rather, it’s a tale of post-disenchantment and learning to live with the consequences and limitations of one’s power.
Cursebreakers is a stellar debut written in tight prose that paints an image in one’s mind with select, striking details. Its honest portrayal of mental illness through the creative lens of magic and a strong running theme of platonic friendship gives the story a deep sense of heart. At less than 300 pages long, it is a quick read that I am sure will charm you, whether you are a die-hard fantasy fan or not.
Cursebreakers is available from Bookshop, The Booksmith, Broadway Books, Garden District Book Shop, Green Bean Books, and Skylight Books.
Sinclair Adams (she/they) is a writer interested in speculative and science fiction narratives. She earned a B.A. in English from the University of Las Vegas and an M.F.A. in creative writing from Chapman University. She was an editor for Ouroboros Magazine, Chapman’s journal of science fiction, fantasy, horror, and other speculative fiction. Follow her on Instagram @sinclairwrites.