Fires of the Faithful (2002) with its sequel Turning the Storm (2003) is a fantasy duology by Naomi Kritzer.
For sixteen-year-old Eliana, life at her conservatory of music is a pleasant interlude between youth and adulthood, with the hope of a prestigious Imperial Court appointment at the end. But beyond the conservatory walls is a land blighted by war and inexplicable famine and dominated by a fearsome religious order known as the Fedeli, who are systematically stamping out all traces of the land's old beliefs. Soon not even the conservatory walls can hold out reality. When one classmate is brutally killed by the Fedeli for clinging to the forbidden ways and another is kidnapped by the Circle—the mysterious and powerful mages who rule the land—Eliana can take no more. Especially not after she learns one of the Circle’s most closely guarded secrets.
Now, determined to escape the Circle's power, burning with rage at the Fedeli, and drawn herself to the beliefs of the Old Way, Eliana embarks on a treacherous journey to spread the truth. And what she finds shakes her to her core: a past destroyed, a future in doubt, and a desperate people in need of a leader—no matter how young or inexperienced…
Tropes:
- Encyclopedia Exposita: Each chapter begins with a quote from The Journey of Gèsu, a religious text.For God so loved Her only son, She redeemed the world.
—The Journey of Gèsu, chapter 4, verse 19. - Fantasy Counterpart Culture: Of Renaissance Italy. The names are Italian, and the political/religious situation is clearly based on the Inquisition.
- Fantasy Counterpart Religion: There’s Catholic-y church, featuring their goddess, the Lady, and her son Gèsu, the Lord. (Gesù—with the accent at the end—is the Italian form of the name Jesus.) Their clergy are the Circle. Their enforcers are the the Sudditi Fedeli della Signora (the Faithful Subjects of the Lady), who are very Inquisition-y. Aside from conceptualizing their god as female, the only big difference is that the church encourages lots of premarital sex (except for certain groups, like music students and clergy, who need to be doing things other than having their own families). Because their Functional Magic makes you less fertile, eveyone is encouraged to have lots and lots of sex to counteract that. And if anyone gets pregnant, then clearly the Lady has blessed you and wants you two to settle down and start a family and raise the baby.
- Sacrificial Lamb: Eliana's friend Bella, who gets killed by the Fedeli as a heretic.
- Unusual Euphemism: "Honoring the Lady" means having sex.
