Review of Motes of Inspiration by Claudie Arseneault

What would you do to belong? And what would you do if you thought you didn’t belong, in fact that your attempts to belong had harmed the very people you love the most? The second Chronicles of Nerezia novella this year and the fifth overall in the series, Motes of Inspiration struck a chord in me unlike any of the entries since Awakenings. After several competent, entertaining, yet fairly straightforward entries in a row, I have to admit: I was starting to wonder where Claudie Arseneault was steering this story. I was getting a little complacent. That was my mistake.

I received an eARC of this book in exchange for a review. Spoilers for previous books in this series but none (even though it is killing me) for this one!

Our adventurers have made it to the other continent after all manner of drama with their ocean crossing. Now, they are about to enter the city of Virze. This is Rumi’s hometown, and he isn’t eager to be back. See, Rumi has his own secrets—and thankfully, Horace is quite good using eir lovable embo energy to pry those secrets out of tight-lipped tinkers. Rumi hurt some of the people closest to him, and for that reason, believes he is no longer welcome in Virze. What begins as a simple supply restock quickly turns into a reunion campaign on the part of the other adventurers. But then, just when it seems like everything wraps up for the better, tragedy strikes, and the story ends on the most significant cliffhanger this series has seen to date.

There’s just so much happening here! Let’s start with Rumi. He is, in many ways, the OG. Without Rumi and his wagon, there would be no travelling, no quest. Horace would be back in Trenaze, struggling with finding a clan. Learning Rumi’s backstory, and understanding as Horace does how Rumi and Horace have a kind of kinship in not feeling like they belong, was really fascinating. I share Keza’s indignation regarding how Rumi acted, and I love how Rumi leaves things at the end. Arseneault handles the anger Rumi’s friend feels with such deft attention to the complexities of platonic love. Forgiveness is something that can be certain yet gradual in its attainment, and I really appreciate how this book balances these two truths. I respect that we get hints at a future happiness that nevertheless will require work on Rumi’s part, work to repair a relationship strained not only by what he did but by what he didn’t do afterwards.

In the same way, revelations about the Wagon and even Aliyah also mark Motes of Inspiration as a seminal story in this series. We learn so much more here about the Wagon’s nature, with a new development that really helps the Wagon become the full-fledged character it has always deserved to be. Similarly, the nature of Aliyah’s relationship to the Fragments has been coming into focus for several books now—yet here we probably have the frankest, most honest discussion of it among the adventurers and from the Archivists.

It’s this latter group that excited me the most in Motes of Inspiration. When I cracked this book open and saw the epigraph from one of the archivists, my immediate reaction was, “These guys better do something interesting soon. Enough teasing.”

Welp.

It’s been a while since a book has truly stunned me with an ending like this one. We’ve had action before in Chronicles of Nerezia, but not like this. We’ve seen the stakes raise immensely before, but not like this. We’ve had characters laid low, characters in danger before—but not like this. Here we are, just past the halfway point of the series, and Arseneault has expertly delivered multiple twists that set the series up for its last four books in style.

If, like me, you have been reading this series since Book 1, then this book is the payoff. Wow. I am so ready for the next one.