The Branded by Jo Riccioni
Published by Angry Robot
Age Group: Adult
Format: Fiction
Genres and Categories: Chronic Illness, Trauma, Dark Fantasy, Dystopian Fantasy, Animal Control, Healing Magic, Persuasion, Alternative Universe, Eugenics
Series: The Branded Season #1
My Rating:
Published on: 11th June 2024
Pages: 408
Disability Representation: Arthritis, Disabilities used as plots, Eugenics, Fictional Condition, Immunocompromised, Infertility, Pandemic, Suicide.
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An epic, high-concept speculative novel with explosive ideas around gender and class, served up with romance, conflict and quick-fire narrative pace.

In a world split in two, sisters Nara & Osha may have the power to bring it back together, if they can uncover the hidden truth…

A century after a virus decimated the population, Isfalk is divided into two classes: the Branded, who are vulnerable to disease, and the Pure, who are stronger and immune. Orphaned twins Nara and Osha are sequestered in the citadel, where their unbranded skin entitles them to a generous life of privilege, albeit as precious breeding stock.

Nara itches to escape her confines and return to the wilds of the Fornwood where she and Osha grew up, but when the sisters are ambushed and kidnapped by Wasteland traders, they learn that life outside the safety of the Walls is brutal, and the fraught journey across the Wastelands is only the beginning.

When Nara discovers she has mysterious powers linked to her uncanny hunting abilities, the sisters have no choice but to accept the help of an untrustworthy Brand known only as the Wrangler. As she grows closer to mastering the skill, and uncomfortably closer to the Wrangler, she soon discovers her new-found gifts could be the key to their escape, and the balance of power in Isfalk.

This book was provided for free by NetGalley and the publishers in exchange for an honest review. Many thanks to the publisher and the author for the opportunity to read this book!

Content Warnings:

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I am always looking for speculative fiction that examines themes of illness, and The Branded by Jo Riccioni appears to do just that. It sounds similar to Burrowed by Mary Baader Kaley, and I was interested to see how the two books compared.

The Branded by Jo Riccioni is a dystopian novel where centuries ago, a Great Malady happened, and the brume virus spread, decimating most of the population. It resulted in most of the population becoming more physically weaker and vulnerable to disease and infection. The virus left a blue mark on their skin like a brand, and they became known as the Branded. A smaller part of the population became physically bigger, stronger, and immune to disease and infection. They became known as the Pure.

As a result of these changes, the Pure became the dominant class in society in some parts of the Continent, and the role of Pure women changed, with an emphasis on their ability to breed. They have become a commodity, and in Isfalk they are kept hidden away in a citadel under the guise of it being for their protection.

Meanwhile, the Branded live in squalor in the surrounding village. They are told that they must keep the Pure wardens fed as the wardens keep everyone safe, including them, so they must give their harvests to the Pure. In actuality, it’s so that the Pure can live in luxury and have an overabundance of food. The Branded who have less visible brands are allowed to serve in the citadel. It is a crime for the Branded and the Pure to have relationships in Isfalk as the Branded have a chance to pass on their physical weaknesses to their offspring, however, that does not stop Pure males from spending time in brothels in the Branded village.

The Branded tells the story of twins Nara and Osha, two young women who grew up with their grandmother in the forests before losing her in a vicious attack. With no details about their parents, the children fled to the citadel. Once it was established that they were both Pure, they were integrated into the restrictive and religious society of the citadel. While her sister seems to fit right in, Nara hates everything the citadel stands for, especially the expectation that young women will meekly accept being paired to a male Pure and give birth to a child every year for the rest of their lives.

She longs for the freedom she and her sister had before they came to the citadel, the freedom to choose her future. Nara doesn’t want to sit at home in luxury as someone’s wife, she wants to become a warden. But Pure women, Mor, are not even allowed outside the citadel without a cadre of wardens to protect them. They’re certainly not allowed to fight.

When Nara is unexpectedly thrown out of the citadel, she gets her wish, but for the first time, the sisters are separated. Alone and in danger, she has to rely on the mysterious Wrangler, a Branded that seems to know more about Nara and Osha and their past than they do. As she tries to find a way back to her sister, Nara begins to learn things about herself and revelations that will change everything they know.

I enjoyed The Branded, it has an interesting story with good pacing, well-written characters and solid world-building. Unfortunately, there are some issues with this book that I can’t overlook. As a disabled reader, I’m interested in speculative fiction that has themes of illness. While this is a main theme in The Branded, I was disappointed to learn that it isn’t mentioned as one of the book’s main themes. Instead, it is being promoted as a “speculative novel with explosive ideas around gender and class“. Additionally, Riccioni’s author bio states that this series is inspired by her desire to “see women and women’s issues at the heart of the epic fantasy canon”.

The problem is that The Branded is not a book about gender and class; it’s a book about how a pandemic caused humanity to split into two groups. The resulting society that is created is founded on eugenicist beliefs, leading to a rigid class system with strict gender roles.

Although Riccioni has written a speculative fiction novel that mirrors our society and the divide between healthy people and the disabled and neurodivergent community, I do not think this was her intention. The Branded are subject to social barriers that negatively impact their lives, something that is very similar to the social model of disability.

Rather than bringing women’s issues into epic fantasy canon, I fear that this book represents the book world’s dismissive attitude towards the inclusion of disability-related topics in the genre. Riccioni has ample opportunity to include disabled characters, instead choosing to change her narrative to avoid them. When Nara journeys outside Isfalk she meets more Branded and learns that they aren’t as weak as the Isfalki have been told. It’s not unbelievable, as it’s one of many lies she learns that the Pure have been told. This doesn’t change the fact that it’s a very convenient way to avoid having to include disabled characters.

The Branded reminded me of Burrowed by Mary Baader Kaley, another dystopian book where society is split into two groups after a worldwide pandemic: one physically strong, and one weak and vulnerable to infection. Riccioni makes the same mistake that Kaley did by not considering the long-term effects of a low immune system. Both authors make multiple references to the weaker group being more prone to infection and illness, but there is no mention of chronic illnesses developing as a result. This oversight is not surprising since, like Kaley, Riccioni appears to be non-disabled.

Ironically, there is one chronic illness represented in The Branded, and that is arthritis, in a Pure man. Riccioni makes the point that despite living longer and being physically stronger, the Pure have some physical limitations. While they appear to live for much longer, they still have to deal with the effects of old age, including wear and tear. I think it says a lot that the only disability representation in this book is in association with ageing.

Disabled representation is not the only representation missing in The Branded. There is hardly any diversity in the entire book. Nixim, aka ‘the Wrangler,’ is the only BIPOC character for the majority of the book, with others only appearing very briefly. His people, the Reis, are called barbarians who spin fantastical stories and exploit people with their “dark arts”. I felt like these descriptions embodied quite a few racist beliefs, including the ‘good’ white people with their acceptable religious beliefs (Isfalk) and the ‘bad’ black people with their ‘hooky’ spiritual beliefs (Reis). While it does become evident that the Isfalk are not necessarily ‘good’, an anti-racism narrative would have felt more believable if there were more than one Reis character present.

Similar to race, there is only the briefest of mentions of LGBTQIA+ representation. One of the young Mor women is accused of “unnatural liaisons” with a Branded maid that goes against the “First Mother’s Natural Order”. As mentioned, relationships between the Branded and the Pure are considered abhorrent, a crime that goes against the Isfalki religious beliefs. While the rhetoric used in the accusation is from the Isfalki’s religious doctrine, it uncomfortably echoes the views held by many anti-LGBTQIA+ campaigners. If there was any genuine LGBTQIA+ representation in the book, I could believe that was meant to highlight prejudice, but since there is none, it feels uncomfortably deliberate.

This book had so much potential, and instead of utilising a great setting to discuss disability issues, Riccioni has actively removed any diversity from The Branded. She wanted to write a book that brought women’s issues into fantasy, and apparently, that meant white heterosexual women. While the world she has created includes a large group of physically vulnerable people, the only health issues featured are those that would concern mothers: pregnancy issues, fertility issues, infections (especially for children), and old age.

While we do need more books in fantasy that focus on women and family, I don’t believe that The Branded did that successfully. Although the characters fight against a restrictive society where women are forced into the role of motherhood, I think the book was predominantly shaped by ideas of motherhood. As a chronically ill queer woman who is not a mother, I felt like this book was written with people like me not in mind.

Although I have added the second book in the duology to my TBR, I do not hold out much hope for any improvement when it comes to the representation in it.

About Jo Riccioni

Jo Riccioni studied English at Leeds University in the UK and graduated with a Masters in Medieval Literature. During this time she became obsessed with Icelandic saga, and the Arthurian and Robin Hood legends, often re-imagining these stories with women cast in the hero’s role. However, her first novel, The Italians at Cleat’s Corner Store, was historical fiction set in post-war England and was inspired by a family history that kept nagging to be told. It was published in Australia and the UK, where it won the International Rubery Award for Fiction and was longlisted for the New Angle Prize. Jo finally returned to her love of medieval-inspired worlds with her feminist fantasy series, The Branded Season. The first book, The Branded, was published in October 2022 and was shortlisted for the SPN’s Book of the Year in 2023. The duology’s conclusion, The Rising, was released in October 2023. The series sold to Angry Robot for publication in the UK and North America. Jo continues to write short fiction. Her stories have been published in Best Australian Stories 2010 and 2011, and in anthologies in Australia and overseas. She has won short story awards in the UK, the US and Australia.
Jo works from her shed on Garigal land in Sydney’s Northern Beaches. When not losing herself in imaginary worlds, she teaches creative writing and sex education, but not at the same time.

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Thanks for reading my book review for The Branded by Jo Riccioni. The sequel, The Rising, is out in February 2025 and is available to pre-order!

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