Blue smoke puffed from the chimneys, emitting sparks with a rhythmic exhale. Lyle worked in one of those factories, along with my pa. There, in the dregs, he witnessed the life cycle of magic from ore to holy stone to pure aether churning through the factory floor. We in Oldtown breathed in the gases left over. Bathed in the waters that flowed out.

Even my familiarity with the raw, dirty process didn’t detract from magic’s beauty, in the same way a newborn child, covered in blood and shit, remained a miracle.

As pretty as a bluebell.

Despite the title, this novel isn’t based on the chosen-one trope. It comes from the eponymous show, The Chosen One, where contestants compete in magical trials to choose the next city’s sovereign. Ultimately, it’s not about the trials either. It’s about people trying to survive in a hyper-capitalist magical world. A system that punishes anyone who dares challenge the status quo, and forces kids to grow up too soon so they can raise other kids when the adults around them inevitably fail them.

The Chosen One Con doesn’t shrink from doing an unvarnished portrayal of drug addiction, sex work, and the hypocrisy of the elite. Another main theme is the manipulative power of media, with a televised high-stakes reality show and all that it entails.

Our two main characters naively enter the contest with big plans. In return, they get bigger disappointments and the lesson of “never meet your heroes”. Trust Skies that when things are looking up, they’re going back down. I can’t do a better job than the author describing them:

We’ve got two unlikable main characters in Max and Lyle. Max is self-centred, he puts his own needs and comforts ahead of most everyone (except his sister). He wouldn’t want to give up those comforts to bring change to the world. He’s real. And honestly, he’s like many of us. What comforts would we give up to stop the world from burning? The world’s burning now.

Then there’s Lyle. He is that burning rage whenever you look at rich people exploiting people, exploiting the natural world. He’s willing to spill blood for it, but he’s also short-sighted, and both he and Max see the world, the city of Aefenhold, in different ways that aren’t always black or white.

(Skies, 2026)

I highlighted so many impactful passages on religion, inequality, or the bullshit of propriety, but I think it’s perfectly summed up in the powerful dedication at the beginning: “For the workers, the sex workers, the immigrants, the marginalized, the downtrodden, the hungry, the destitute, and all who face oppression at the greedy hands of the rich. There are more of us than them.”

The prose was utterly cinematic. Featuring star-crossed lovers, zealotry, scapegoats, white knighting, casual disability representation, trans heartthrobs, found family, and epic deaths, let this novel fill your rage against the abuse of the establishment. The real villain is Greed. Eat the rich.