Honor & Heresy by Max Francis Review

Instagram sensation Max Francis makes his highly anticipated debut with this atmospheric, gothic, dark academic fantasy of two scholars racing each other to find answers to an invasion in a haunted library, perfect for fans of Katabasis and A Study in Drowning.
 

Roy Dawnseve, the prospective heir to Dawnseve Manor, cares more for philosophy than battle. However, in a society that shuns literature and promotes violence, his fate is compromised. But Roy is given a he can either brave the front lines and fight the Old Ones, the mysterious, black-armored soldiers invading Northgard—or he can investigate their identity in the Orphic Basilica, an ancient, abandoned library.
 

When Roy chooses to unravel the mystery, it soon becomes clear that the Orphic Basilica isn’t without its own horrors. Strange voices echo down the halls, ghosts with burning red eyes roam the bookshelves, and those who stepped foot in the library have either emerged insane or were driven to their own demise.
 

Roy’s only companion—and his partner in the investigation—is Percival Atherton, a manipulative, enigmatic and distractingly charming scholar who has no qualms about belittling Roy. As a fierce snowstorm sinks its claws into the city, isolating them from civilization, Roy and Percival must grapple with their tormented pasts, an unexpected romance, and an age-old conspiracy whose secrets are certain to wipe Northgard from history.
 

Filled with all the yearning of a rivals-to-lovers romance, the intrigue and fear of a dark academia, and the wonder and discovery of an epic fantasy, Honor & Heresy is ultimately a story of self-discovery amidst the chaos of war and a long, cold winter.

This review is based on a complimentary Advanced Reader Copy provided by Harper Voyager.

In a tense and snow-covered world where academic studies are punishable by death, Max Francis’s Honor & Heresy follows a pair of scholars tasked with discovering the identity and motivations of a mysterious invading force threatening the city of Northgard. Accustomed to a life of persecution and suffering by political leaders that detest scholarly pursuits, Roy Dawnseve is recruited by the Governor to explore the mysterious and vast archive of the Orphic Basilica in the company of the standoffish and opposing philosophical scholar Percival Atherton. A highly atmospheric and immersive dark academia tale featuring a rivals-to-lovers M/M romance, this book is a slow burn story that’s haunting and a very promising debut novel despite a somewhat weak ending.

Marketed as a story set around the concept of scholastic inquiry and a mysterious library, Honor & Heresy mostly delivers on its promise of a dark academia tale crossed with M/M romantic interests. Dark academia is a very popular genre buzzword that can relate to a variety of narrative topics and styles depending on who you ask, this book’s take on it is one of literary interest and analysis of textual details. Scholars Roy and Percival spend most of the story endlessly reading books in the Orphic Basilica ranging from historic records, fictionalized accounts, thanatology theories, ethics of war, followed by discussing their thoughts and differences. Honor & Heresy is the kind of book that talks about war and fantasy theoretically more so than having actual on-page action or development, so this is not a recommended read for those that prefer more overt narratives. For those that do appreciate academic discussions and INTP-esque musings, this book is a treat.

Where other scholars have been sentenced to death for academic interests, Roy and Percival exist in a world that condemns their very existence, and one of the book’s most impressive elements is its philosophical debates on the merits of scholarship and interpretation of historic scripture. While their early debates serve dual purposes of displaying their ideological differences as well as setting up the rivals-to-lovers romance trope, I found Francis’s academic sparring very compelling and expertly crafted. Both having tragic backstories of suffering and betrayal, Roy and Percival’s differences in academic interests, opinions on established writers, thoughts on their conscripted task, and more are well-executed across the board. Philosophical debates aren’t for everyone and admittedly aren’t usually my thing, but I enjoyed Francis’s discussion and use of it thanks to the sharp ideas and effective dialogue used to convey them.

In addition to the philosophical discussions, the book’s other strongest asset is its consistently great ambiance and atmosphere. A story that is fully restricted to a single location lives or dies with its setting but fortunately the Orphic Basilica is portrayed with great flair and mystique. Evoking both a sense of being alive while also immortal and haunted, the library’s foreboding, endless shelves and balcony tiered floors illustrated on the book’s cover are portrayed beautifully. Mixing paranormal fantasy elements with arcane detailing, the material is heightened by Francis’s impressive tone that is quietly measured but engaging. His prose is accessible with a distinctively intellectual lilt fitting for the dark academia material. In addition to Roy and Percival’s exploration of the library, the considerable amount of in-lore literary works are presented on-page through various historic or academic figures. Ranging in topics, writing styles, and phrasing, the literature presented is diverse and a great showcase of Francis’s writing chops. While I had some grievances with the book’s plotting and ending, the quality of his storytelling was so good that I almost didn’t care what I was reading about.

Complimenting the book’s great tone and ideas are its appealing main characters Roy and Percival. Each haunted both metaphorically and literally by their personal demons, the two young adults have wonderful chemistry and interactions that help carry the book through all its slower and sometimes mundane sections. While written and marketed as a gay dark academia romance in a gothic setting, their dialogue and banter are decidedly more academic and literary than typical for the genre. One of my reading pet peeves is books that are marketed as dark academia stories that either lack the academia part of the genre or have very juvenile or insta-lust plotting that uses the theme for aesthetic purpose only. Fortunately, Honor & Heresy introduces the two scholars as light rivals with conflicting academic philosophies which provides great opportunities for unique exchanges. Instead of generic snarky banter or jokes, Roy and Percival trade mental jabs of theological stances in a self-proclaimed competition for intellectual recognition. Percival’s standoffish persona is nicely balanced by his signature nickname for Roy “darling”. Amusingly, the brief romantic moments were just as satisfying for me to read about as Roy punching an irrefutable hole in Percival’s confident and opinionated argument. While there’s some physical interest presented such as Percival’s blonde hair that catches the moonlight through the library’s windows or how the image of him furrowing his eyebrows while studying lingers in Roy’s head, the romantic interests start off as scholastic intrigue that’s on-brand and fitting for the story. Admittedly I found the challenge and competition from Percival to be a bit silly and clumsily handled during the “rivals” section of the rivals-to-lovers arc, however I enjoyed their camaraderie and relationship that followed enough to not get too caught up with the earlier setup. With the current new adult/adult fantasy romance genre trends favorite heavy spice, I also found the book’s sweet and light gay romance to be refreshing; for those who prioritize spice, Honor & Heresy is quite chaste and does not go beyond kissing.

While the book has a strong start and a slow approach to its story, Honor & Heresy’s plot is unfortunately not one of its stronger aspects. The book features great themes of academic censorship, destroying and rewriting history, and corruption of power, and ideas are represented via interesting storylines. Though the story starts out very promising, the book’s plot is quite sparse and the limited narrative developments are few and far between. While I personally enjoyed Roy and Percival’s academic discussions and their inquisitive interest in each other, there’s really little movement or progression of the core premise on the research of the dangerous and invading Old Ones threatening Northgard.  And though I was a big fan of most of the book despite the limited plot, the book takes an expected turn at around the 70% mark that feels mismatched to the rest of the story; up until this point, the book was a 4.5 – 5 star read for me.

As the book approaches its ending, the mostly grounded and intellectual story pivots into a paranormal angle that I didn’t feel was adequately foreshadowed or set up. While I normally love ghost stories or arcane-themed books, I felt like the academia part of dark academia was forgotten and replaced by fantasy dark magic that felt more generic and standard material. The nuanced and detailed philosophical explorations and the wonderfully distinctive atmosphere that had been building over the course of the book felt abandoned in favor of more typical dark magic fanfare. The plot developments felt clunky, character motivations basic, and despite the large-scale conflict threatening Northgard, the story kind of ends on a short and casual note that felt a bit lackluster, anti-climactic and as uncertain as its characters feel. The last 30% of the book in general also came off as being rushed, crunched together, and quite disruptive compared to how carefully paced and written the rest of the story was, even Francis’s intellectual prose feeling simplified and lost. This shift also occurs soon after Roy and Percival’s relationship develops and while their romance was overall quite good, Percival’s characterization and dialogue lost a lot of his unique cadence, edge, and banter that I found so impressive earlier in the book. A point could be made that Percival’s softer, gentler, and less confident portrayal is due to the character letting down his guard to Roy, but their different yet complimentary natures and compelling dynamics also seemed to drop for me the further the book progressed. While the ending is by no means a disaster, subjectively it wasn’t what I expected based on how the rest of the book was handled. The overall ideas and key moments were conceptually good, but the execution left quite a bit to be desired. I almost got the impression that the book was written with themes, concepts, and the gothic library visual in mind first, the plot coming second as if Francis wasn’t quite sure what to do with the ending. Apparently Honor & Heresy was originally set to be indie published before being picked up and edited for traditional publishing and I don’t know if the subsequent revisions the book went through affected book’s outline for better or worse (previous indie listings indicate it was originally part of a series titled The Great Fall of Northgard but I do not see any reference to this book being a series from Harper Voyager at the time of this review).

Featuring wonderfully unsettling ambiance, engaging writing, appealing and attractive collaborating scholars and great thematic concepts, Honor & Heresy is an impressive debut novel. Although this book didn’t quite stick its landing and the world-building outside of the library and its written text was a bit foggy at best for me, it’s still a well-written dark academia novel worth reading for those that enjoy detailed lengthy narratives with atmospheric intrigue.  Also, do not be discouraged by the marketing blurb advertising Max Francis as an Instagram/Tiktok sensation which many consider to be a warning sign or a mark of poor writing quality; his social media presence covers the writing process of this book and is not a bookstagram or book influencer content creator. Despite the shortcomings with the plot, I was so impressed by Francis’s storytelling that I am already committed to and looking forward to whatever book he cooks up next.