January Book Reviews: Entwined by HM Long
I received a free copy from Titan Books via Netgalley in exchange for a fair review. Release date March 10th, 2026.
I liked Long's first fantasy book, Hall of Smoke, and I was intrigued by her latest novel's Gilded Age fantasy premise. In Entwined, Ottilie is a rogue mage who has escaped from the Guild, but chooses to keep her head down working for a private investigator rather than joining a revolutionary group. Until her employer disappears after receiving a magically powerful artifact—significant enough to bring both her estranged sisters into town…
Entwined is very obviously about Ottilie being caught between two philosophies, represented by her two sisters. She's refused to pick the side of either loyal Guild mage Madge who spends her time having children for the cause, or disruptive firebrand revolutionary Pretoria, with her messy personal life and constant movement. Of course, because Ottilie is defined by her inability to chose, she ends up a bit wishy-washy. Her one strong character motivation is to escape with her government-assigned ex-fiance, who very obviously has never loved her. Dump that man. Still, while I thought Ottilie's romance arc was decidedly lackluster, I did enjoy her relationship with her sisters. I especially liked Madge, slowly painting away her memories and emotion in order to survive in the restrictive Guild where she's been traded away to yet another mage for their breeding program.
I was also happy that the worldbuilding didn't dwell excessively on the different categories and powers of magic. The magic system was painted in with a light touch, which is my preference. Here, mages are strictly defined by what type of light they're associated with, which determines both their powers and what time of day they're most effective. But as Ottilie knows this very well already, we don't see the plot stopping dead to enumerate all the different magic powers. In fact, I don't think all of them are even mentioned in this book. What we do see are a bit of a mixed bag of the very specific and the very broad: power of superstrength, power of extra good writing, time powers, and Ottilie's own psychometry.
Solid enough execution, but I wasn't particularly compelled by it. The plotline centered around one woman trying to make her way through a city slowly dissolving into civil war was interesting, but not enough to make it a standout for me. Needs a bit more of the special sauce.
