Maxym M. Martineau’s Beast Charmer series is a favourite of mine so I was excited to see that she was coming out with a new one. House of Blight, the first in The Threadmender Chronicles, has a darker tone and is a gothic fantasy, and I found it just as enjoyable as her earlier books.

Edira Brillwyn is the sole caregiver for her two younger teenaged brothers, Noam and Nohr. While they work in the mines digging for special jewels, she is a healer, spending her days searching for plants to make her tinctures and potions. But Edira has a hidden talent. She is a threadmender, as was her aunt before her; she can heal injuries and disease by finding the broken or damaged threads that all life is made of and mending the breaks. But there is a cost to her work. For every thread she heals, she loses a few of her own life threads and she experiences the pain that her patient is feeling due to their injury or illness. So she uses her talent rarely and hides the evidence of her nature.

There is a horrible illness – the blight – that is affecting the people of her village and beyond. It’s a fast acting, painful disease that kills within hours if not minutes, caught through exposure to an infected animal or person through a cut and characterized by bursting boils on the skin and roasting from the inside out. Edira’s parents died from it, though she tried her utmost to cure them with her power. But she was too young and untrained and ultimately unsuccessful.

The townsfolk live in close proximity to immortal beings called Evers. Humans who were granted immortality through a bargain their ancestor made with Death, the most important Ever family is the Ferngloves, and the head of their family is Orin Fernglove. They are notorious for making bargains that are sealed with magic so that the person involved in the bargain suffers a painful injury or death if they try to break their end of the agreement. And Evers will always spirit away any threadmender for their own purposes. In fact, it was Orin’s family who took away Edira’s aunt, and she was never seen again.

When Edira’s brothers come home one day from the mines and start to show the unmistakable signs of having contracted blight, Edira panics. Despite knowing the danger, she turns to her threadmending to try to heal them – and is caught in the act by Orin, who makes a bargain with her. He will put her brothers into stasis, sealing them into a protected chamber to prevent the progression of the disease if she will come with him to his family home and work with him to find a cure for the blight. It’s a huge risk – each attempt at a cure will cut out many of her life threads and the excruciating pain is almost unbearable. But to figure out a cure, to save her brothers and for the greater good? Perhaps she can succeed where others have failed.

Their bargain is struck and Edira is brought to the Fernglove estate with her brothers in their floating coffins. As she works with Orin, she discovers he’s not at all what she expected; he seems to really care about her and her brothers and the work they can do together, and while I’d say the book is more of a fantasy with romantic elements than a fully-fledged fantasy romance, a genuine attraction develops between them. Orin’s family sees Edira as just another in a line of failed attempts to cure the blight. But beyond their glamorous façade lies a dark secret, one that will change everything.

Doesn’t that sound intriguing? Well, it’s definitely a page-turning read! I really enjoyed the worldbuilding here, the small-town village folk with their everyday lives upended periodically by the appearance of an Ever family member. While the Ferngloves are the ones in charge, there are some other immortal Ever families as well, and each person has their own brand of magic in varying strengths. Orin’s magic is related to the growth of plants and flowers and so he seems to be a good match for Edira’s own skills and knowledge as a healer. Edira is a strong, likeable character who understands her situation and tries to make the best of it. She’s able to find the diaries of threadmenders who came before her (all of which end abruptly) and she knows that her chances of success are slim. But she won’t give up, and she’s willing and brave enough to dig deeper in her quest to heal her brothers.

Orin’s family is equally important to the story. His brother Rorik, a cynical loner who can command insects, is tasked with training Edira to become physically strong in order to aid her to bear the pain of healing. Orin’s sister, Seville, is haughty and aloof, and his cousins, Tasia and Amalyss, see her as a toy to play with, and his grandmother is a shell of a woman, immortal, yes, but clearly unwell. Edira must learn who she can trust in this dysfunctional family as time begins to run out. Darkly atmospheric with one surprising revelation after another, this is a story that will linger. While House of Blight doesn’t end on a cliffhanger, there is definitely more story to tell and I’m looking forward to continuing the series.