Twin Daggers by MarcyKate Connolly (review)

Aissa and her twin sister Zandria pretend to be Technocrats while they are actually Magi, a group of people whose culture and lives have been destroyed. Their mission as spies is to find a royal heir and use them as ransom, or kill them if necessary. Perhaps it is the fact that she grew up around Technocrats that opens the possibility of seeing ambiguity in the historical narrative of these warring groups, but Aissa finds herself falling for a Technocrat, a key figure in the whole plot to reinstate Magi dominance. This complicates things, as does the revelation that trusted friends are actually enemies, but Aissa may not survive to sort out her own moral compass. Connolly offers a richly ambiguous world, where self-righteous Technocrats enact shockingly vicious punishments on Magi, and Magi would eagerly destroy everything Technocrat related (including the people), acting from a vengeance-only mindset. While no one is very sympathetic, everyone is relatable in this world where good and evil of the other group has long been proffered to new generations as indelible truths. Unfortunately, those here for the fantasy adventure may find the proliferation of self-sacrificing gestures to be distracting at best. In addition, Aissa is one of the only women in this novel to show much true agency, other than the villainous queen, and even Aissa relies on a lot of male assistance. However, there's cool backstory in how these two groups really evolved, and that history may reward exploration.