“A shiver ricocheted up his spine. Noam held a storm in his hands, and he couldn’t feel a thing.” – Victoria Lee, The Fever King

Victoria Lee’s debut novel, that came out March 1, 2019,  The Fever King is a dystopian young adult fantasy science fiction novel about a refugee teenager in a country of political unrest. Victoria Lee is a American Goodreads author from Durham, N.C. and an expensive whiskey enthusiast. The Fever King is Lee’s debut book with her second book, a sequel to The Fever King, The Electric Heir coming out later this year, March 17. She also has a third book set to be released in 2021 called A Lesson in Vengeance.

The Fever King Follows a young boy as he navigates his way through the new corrupt world he finds himself apart of after waking up from his fever sickness. The story is like going through a mirror maze at a carnival, you think you’re going the right way then, bam, straight into a wall. It keeps you guessing at which way is the right way, just like the main character Noam Alvaro.

The book is set in a dystopian future of the U.S.one where there isn’t a United states at all but new nations stand in its place after a world shattering catastrophe. Fever sickness happened in the late 2000s of the books history killing millions and sparing handful of others granting them with magical abilities. These people who survived the fever-sickness are called Witchings, and this is what our main character is. 

Noam Alvaro is a 16- year- old in the country of Carolina born of refugee parents from Atlantia (Both new countries in what was formally the U.S..). Noam goes through many hardships before and during the events of the story, he deals with the constant conflict of racism and political corruption. His main goal throughout the story is to expose the government for its wrong doings and overthrow the current chancellor. 

Noam along the way makes allies with the other witching cadets he’s with, the minister of defense, Calix Lehrer, and his son Dara. Though Noam and Dara butt heads constantly throughout the book they end up building up a relationship where they can rely and turn to each other. 

Throughout the book I found myself over analyzing and second guessing all the information I was given. Lee wrote a fantastic story that kept me in thrawled with every decision the characters made. It was easy to put myself into the shoes of the characters since most of their views and decisions had strong reasoning or emotions behind them. Overall, the story was interesting with many twists I didn’t see coming that kept me on my toes.  

Photo from victorialeewrites.com