Some by Virtue Fall

The Seven Gods #1

by Alexandra Rowland

By the King’s Edict, men have been banned from performing on stage. Everyone else is still out for blood.

Sabajan Hollant, director and co-founder of the celebrated Lord Chancellor’s Players, has one resolution: This time they’re going to do it right. If they want to keep their noble patron—hell, if they want to stay in the theater business at all—they’re going to have to keep their hands clean. No accidents, no rising to other troupes’ provocations and taunts, and certainly no more duelling in the streets.

But their arch-rivals have different plans, and soon enough, Saba and her troupe are caught up once again in an escalating drama of revenge, betrayal, and outright sabotage.

The men may have started this war—but Saba and her remaining players are going to end it.

Genres: Fantasy, Lesbian, LGBT, Queer, Novella, Fiction, Adult

150 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 25, 2022

About the author

Alexandra Rowland is the author of several fantasy books, including A Conspiracy Of Truths, A Choir Of Lies, and Some by Virtue Fall, as well as a Hugo Award-nominated podcaster (all sternly supervised by their feline quality control manager). They hold a degree in world literature, mythology, and folklore from Truman State University.

They are represented by Britt Siess of Britt Siess Creative Management.

Find them on Twitter, Instagram, Patreon or their website.

Reviews

[chai (thelibrairie on tiktok!) ♡]

I'm a simple gay. I see LESBIANISM and RIVALRY and THEATER in relation to the same book and I go immediately UNHINGED

[Corrie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some by Virtue Fall by Alexandra Rowland is the first in the Seven Gods series. I say she puts her degree in world literature, mythology, and folklore to good use here.

This novella was an absolute scream. So much fun! ‘Dramatic disaster thespian lesbians’ as one reviewer perfectly described it. I loved every bit of it and can’t wait for more adventures of Sabajan and her crazy troupe.

f/f very gay but nothing explicit :-)

Themes: Theater of Light, the Reds, patronage, high Shakespeare vibes, rivaling theater companies, perfect tits, lost Euhemenon play, theft and arson.

5 Stars

[fatma · Rating 4 out of 5]

fun little fantasy novella with a really charming protagonist and rival theater troupes! 🎭

[bri · Rating 3 out of 5]

If the mechanicals from A Midsummer Night's Dream were a theatre troupe of chaotic and useless lesbians. And they had a rival troupe also of chaotic and useless lesbians. But maybe the real enemy was the capitalist patriarchy we smashed along the way.

Written with a charming mixture of Elizabethan wit and modern colloquialisms, and filled with banter so vulgar it would make Shakespeare proud.

It reminded me of the rowdy, goofy, unhinged Shakespeare camps I used to participate in. All my former peers would love this.

(But of course, as a director myself, I do have several notes, the biggest one being that we desperately needed a Dramatis Personae, because I was so lost between characters sometimes.)

CW/TW: alcohol consumption, fire (mention), violence (mostly offscreen), blood (brief), imprisonment

[urwa · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars
Maybe the real enemy was the capitalist assholes monetizing art for politics all along...
A really cute and fun novella, about two rival acting troupes. While the worldbuilding felt rushed, and I was confused about the languages and culture, I did enjoy this novella immensely. The romance was a slow burn and really cute, I hope it's developed more in the sequels which I will definitely be reading!

The main character, Saba is THE most useless lesbian (don't blame her). Might fuck around, challenge my arch-nemesis to a duel, burn a building down, and fall in love with a rival?

Thank you to the author and publisher for providing me an eARC in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

[Marta · Rating 5 out of 5]

Alex's writing is, as always, magical and enthralling; I devoured Some By Virtue Fall in two days and I want more, damnit!!!

[Kristen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chaos! Arson! Lesbians!

[Beatrice · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have discovered something worse than the editor to no editor pipeline: the editor to Victoria Goddard as your editor pipeline.

It’s also really something to see so much bullshit about inherent gender differences in a book by a nonbinary person.

[tamanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

idk maybe I am emotionally attached to a group of dramatic gay thespians causing chaos for 150 pages straight.

[Emma Cathryne · Rating 5 out of 5]

BOTH the theater kid and the queer woman in me loved this book, which is not something I can say often or lightly. It takes place in a fictional society based vaguely on Elizabethan-era England, with a few crucial differences (namely the country being racially diverse and highly queer). Furthermore, rather than an edict barring women from acting in theaters, there is an edict barring men. Therefore, the story stars a troupe full of women and non-binary actors and directors scrambling to put on a pseudo-Shakespearean play while also fending off the devious whims of rival troupes.

Personally, this concept felt straight out of my daydreams and it was delightful to see fleshed out and full of queer woman and nb joy, love, and drama. The protagonist Sabajan is enchantingly hotheaded, unabashedly lustful, and dryly hilarious, catapulting herself instantly onto my list of hottest fictional women. She is as large and exaggerated as the characters she plays, and I liked seeing her spar with the mysterious Iracena, romance beautiful Nazeya, and love her troupe stubbornly and single-mindedly. The only character I didn’t enjoy as much was her best friend, Alvana, the weepy playwright with writer’s block. I also felt surprised the lost play didn’t evolve into as much of a plot point by the end as it was set up to become. In any case, I would be delighted if Rowland wrote even just one more of these fun little novellas, if only for me to catch another glimpse of Sabajan.

[Jennie · Rating 5 out of 5]

TL;DR: Suitably dramatic and entertaining tale about chaotic queer actors

Some By Virtue Fall is immensely fun, and a perfect chaotic thespian novella. The characters aboslutely come to life off the page, and the story has the frenetic energy of a farce, with real heart underneath (and a lot of queerness). It ties together a lot of action and some simple but effective theming with efficiency and flair. It can be a little weird to remember this is a fantasy book in the same world as Rowland's other works, because it often feels like it could be an alternate history book instead, but that might change as the series progresses. Not the deepest novella, but certainly one of the most enjoyable.

Rating breakdown
4.5 stars rounded up to 5
9/10 in personal rating system

[Laurel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh, this was a riot - definitely left me feeling oddly rebellious and half in love with theater again by the end! I've totally dubbed this the "decidedly dramatic disaster thespian lesbians" novella.

I'm also digging the apologies in this book. They're thorough and full of acknowledgment in a way that I wish I saw more of.

Cool quote:

"I have no attention to spare for forgiveness or condemnation."

[Alison Mia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novella packed so much in!! Two queer theatre troupes are rivals, and they engage in hjinks such as stealing each others plays, flirting outrageously, drinking, and sword fights with fake swords. Very fun!

[Pie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Can we make "fantasy novels about dramatic theater lesbians and their rivals" an entire genre, please? This was delightful and I want more!

[Lulu (the library leopard) · Rating 4 out of 5]

That was fun, I'd read more in this fantasy world!

[vic · Rating 5 out of 5]

bruh this shit slapped the fuck. saba marry me

[Olosta · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was quick and fun, but too short to be properly satisfying

[Eli A · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh I *very much enjoyed this.*

Fantasy Shakespeare in Love, without the bittersweet ending. A bunch of drama kids going absolutely ham. Almost no men and a heck of a lot of women, and a Sapphic slow burn at the center. Just impeccable entertainment.

[Shishir Kedlaya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Duelling theatre lesbians!

Great novella by Alexandra Rowland!

In a short 80 odd pages she crams in whipsmart dialog, drama, emotion, action and theatrics!

Absolutely loved it.

[tillie hellman · Rating 5 out of 5]

this was good fun! i have now reread all of rowlands works or read them for the first time in the last few months!

[Cesy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great story

Fun adventure with a bit of romance, lots of different female characters, it's the theatre and everyone is queer, plenty of friendly banter insults. Set in the same world as some of the author's other books but stands alone. Recommended.

[Marie · Rating 3 out of 5]

"I mean, the worldbuilding was interesting, and the characters were fun, but ultimately it was a novella, and I just never vibe with novellas."

"In that case, have you considered perhaps...not reading novellas?"

As usual, my wife is smarter AND wiser than I am.

[caro_cactus · Rating 5 out of 5]

A delightful novella, which hits the ground running and never stops until the end, ramping up the stakes until all seems lost... but this is a comedy, not a tragedy, and the antagonists are not mustache-twirling villains. If you've read A Choir of Lies recently (which I have), it could not be a more different book - but the talent remains. Wonderful Shakespare-but-with-lesbians tale in a low/no-magic corner of Rowland's expansive world, which I'm very glad they've decided to open to self-pub as well as trad pub! Saba is *awesome* and although her flirtationship is fun, it's really her friendship with Alvana I love most. QUEER! WOMEN! STANDING! TOGETHER! *wild applause*

[Celeste · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.25 stars

OK, so real talk: I almost DNF’d this.

I know, it’s a novella, and that doesn’t really make any sense due to how short it is, but I really wasn’t in the mood for low stakes fantasy when I started this.

But I left it for a couple days and then picked it up again and ploughed through it and here we are.

It was fine. Amusing even.

But it was also very niche in terms of the theatre focus. Like I was a theatre kid when I was in school but this was almost too much for me.

Will truer theatre kids than me enjoy it? Probably. There’s a rivalry, all of the melodrama, backstabbing, eccentric and over-the-top characters and there’s a lot to like there.

But I was not a hundo percent in the mood for it and thus did not appreciate it in the manner that it was meant to be appreciated.

This is the start of a series of novellas, and I could see myself continuing on with it (although that would be entirely mood dependent), but I won’t be making it a priority by any means because me and committing to a series is virtually unheard of and I will not be shamed.

[Janvi Rakshi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I LOVE THIS BOOK .

Saba, my absolute beloved is one of the most refreshing characters I have read in a long, long time. In fact, all the characters were so well made, each of them distinctive in their own right.

Nazeya... Well let's just say I understand why Saba fell head over heels for her at almost first sight. I love her character, and I absolutely adore her relationship with Saba and I can’t wait to see how it progresses in the books to come.

The plot was *chef's kiss* and there was a perfect ratio of drama to serious prose, which by the way was absolutely gorgeous.

The ending of this book came as a surprise, but an extremely pleasant one. It showed how well the characters had developed in this short period of time so clearly!

I am so excited for the next book, and how the story continues; this book is straight going into my pile of "will reread 10+ times this year."

[Prince Kou · Rating 5 out of 5]

My guys this book. It has every perfect thing to keep you glued to the pages from start to finish. Tension sparks up at every new sentence and things don't stop turning and come down to the absolute best theatre performance that ever took place in the pages of a book. If you're looking for surprises, betrayals, bravado and some genuine, utter good chaos, go and give this book a chance, it won't disappoint. I can't wait for the next ones!

[usha✿— · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some rise by sin, and some by virtue fall
— Measure for Measure, William Shakespeare

Some By Virtue Fall is a riotously chaotic and extremely queer story.

Sabajan Hollant is the director of the top two famous troupes, the Theatre of Light, which had been established by her but it now under the patronage of Lord Chancellor (an idiotic nobleman with too much wealth and no appreciation for theatre at all). Under the system of patronage, theatre troupes have established a vicious rivalry and they work as hard at trying to sabotage one another as they do to learn and enact plays.

After a recent incident of violent hostility (which isn't elaborated on much), the King has issued a formal command forbidding men from acting in troupes within a day’s ride of Brassing’s city walls. The women must now play the rolenof men (an inverse of what happened during Shakespeare) but nothing is even close to being resolved.

Their rivals, the Red Theatre Players, under the patronage of Lord Seneschal, are working their hardest to sabotage the Theatre of Light by stealing their plays. Cue a chaotic rivalry between troupes which includes—but is not limited to—public duelling, tespassing, arson, theft, attempted murder. Even worse, the beautiful girl Sabajan Hollant is infatuated with (she's pretty, it can't be helped!) is one of the Reds!

But both troupes eventually realise that men are dumb, nobles doubly so and maybe there is a better way to go about this than always being at each other's throats.

3.5 stars. Don't get me wrong, I really liked this. Saba—a lewd sapphic half-crazy and stupidly impulsive director who challenges other lesbians to public duels and is just really, truly very wack—was one of the most fun mcs I’ve read in a while. Her banter with the other characters was ridiculous but genuinely fun and authentic.

Her love interest, Nazeya, is a woman of good sense who has been a fan for quite sometime until a run-in at a bar ruins that impression when a drunken Saba accuses her of spying for the enemy. Their insta-attraction to hesitant enemies to mistrustful allies was a sapphic delight.

However, the story itself is very rushed. There is no world building, the story builds on itself, explaining things as we go. It wasn't difficult to understand and I’m very thankful for the lack of infodumps. It's a light fun historical sapphic novella which I enjoyed as a 3.5 star read (leaning towards a 3 star) and I expect it to expand a lot in later novels.

The language is kind of medieval and quite a bit vulgar.
Token is terribly fond of his wife, that is true. Poor man just refuses to see the light and kneel in awe at the altar of cock.

Although everything is very Shakespearean, everyone is so delightfully queer! The norm seems to be bisexuality. There are side trans characters and a discussion about how the King's edict targeted against men affects them. There are gay men (with the exception of the aforementioned Leony Token, everyone seems to be gay/bi/pan). Saba is such a useless lesbian.

“Lisbeth Hunter. Blond, gorgeous tits; read Pompolo’s monologue from Thera and Kliode.”
“Mmm,” said Alvana. “She’s too… not Enryn.”
“Whatshername, Iracena something-or-other. Fake name, obviously trying too hard. Chestnut hair, decent tits—”
“Enough about their tits!”

[The Rose and the Writing Desk · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easily one of my favourite reads of the year. (This review is dated January, but I finished this at the close of 2023, so that's less backhanded than it sounds.)

The book is set shortly after a nebulous Incident, unspecified but heavily implied to have involved mass violence and one or more deaths, that resulted in a hastily-passed reactionary law outright banning all men from performing in the theatre. Our protagonist's theatre troupe is reeling from this, both from the loss of half their number and from more specific punishments imposed on them as one of the main perpetrators.

I've bounced off similar plot devices previously, where they've ended up being trite battle-of-the-sexes type plots, but Rowland navigates the pitfalls of the setting easily. The whole thing actually carries a distinct feeling of football hooliganism to me, and the incredibly destructive impact it wrought on the sport when it was at its height.

Saba is a fantastic protagonist. There's plenty to dislike about her; she's a lech (the story literally opens on her ranking prospective hires by how good their tits are) and a hypocrite (brawling is something men do, not me, who almost starts a bar fight not twenty pages later) but overall she's simply such a hurricane of personality that she's impossible not to love. Rogueish characters like this can be hit-or-miss for me, but Saba is perfectly done. Her love affair with Nazeya is a delighful complement to this, with Saba flipping between a silver-tongued seductress and someone who, as her own troupe members put it, would walk into a beehive if it was shaped like a pair of tits.

A work like this is heavily dependent on landing the setting and vibe, and Rowland absolutely nails this. It feels like a cross between Romeo & Juliet's Verona, with houses at war and bravos dueling in the streets, and a pseudo-Elizabethan England, with a deep, thriving arts culture as mired in politicking as it is in playwriting. Rowland takes clear inspiration from real-world sources, such as with parallel equivalents to ancient Greek playwrights and One Thousand and One Nights, but weaves these into a world with a believable alternate history and culture without losing its fantastical feel, and all within the tight pacing demands of a novella.

The dialogue written for the in-universe play deserves particular note. (Blacken'd worm that I am, I'm not up enough on my plays to know if it's intended as a specific reference; it doesn't seem particularly reminiscent of Measure for Measure, despite the title.) There's a distinct meter and flow to it. It's not hard to envision it being performed, and the innuendo in Saba's monologue as the Lord of Temptation in particular is positively Shakespearean.

Maintaining both the necessary pace and depth of character in a novella this size is not an easy feat, but it's one Rowland accomplishes with excellence. The introduction to Nazeya's grandmother is another highlight:

	Rayyana's nod to her was both dignified and dismissive. Saba mentally admired it and tucked it away in her mental catalogue of performable character tics. "Very pleased to meet you, grandmother," Saba said in Khagri.
	"May your own mother and grandmother rest peacefully in the lap of the gods," Rayyana said. "They must be dead, to let you go aroudn with an accent that bad."

Five lines, and we have an instant picture of her.

Overall, then, Virtue receives an easy 0 out of 5 stars; someone told me this was a sword lesbian book, and yet it contains nary a one.

[♥Xeni♥ · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was okay I suppose. I'm generally not a fan of novellas. It's rare the novella that I run into that perfectly balances the elements of story in a way that feels complete. And this one was definitely not a great example of that.

The worldbuilding is scant. This story is set in Rowland's vast world from their other books as well, however in a country we have yet to visit. A lot is left to inference or assumption on behalf of the reader.

The main character, Saba, is a male-in-any-other-words type of character. She loves women, loves talking vulgarly about women's bodies, loves making crude misogynistic remarks about how certain women must be on their periods (I let the first one slide, but there were at least 3; 3 too many for a novella IMO), and is in general rash, bold, intense, willing to do whatever it takes, an extrovert, and not willing to let many others help her. It's not my favorite kind of main character. In fact I found her quite tiresome after the first few chapters. Though I'll admit that's a very good kind of protagonist to have to keep your story moving. Until the weird moment ~75% in when Saba's memory all of a sudden stops working? I don't get it. It was meant to be the central conflict of the story and lost all oomph due to being so stupid.

The plot in general is pretty low-stakes for the world. I'd call it cozy fantasy but it's rife with action: duels, ambushes, breaking and entering, etc. It's full of theater-drama, lesbian-drama, relationship-drama. The drama is great! But the plot was far too big for this little book. And the ending far too pat for the very dramatic plot.

I wish the story had had more pages. I wish it wasn't a novella. And I wish I would have liked it more. I still can't wait for the sequel release in a months time, and I'll read it. But I hope it's a different book to this one.

[Mary Soon Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Some by Virtue Fall" is a fantasy novella about duelling theater troupes. It's witty and vivid and clever. The protagonist, Saba, is the director of a theater troupe. By the king's edict, they and their rivals are all having to proceed without male actors. (Coincidentally, a couple of weeks before reading it, I watched an all-female performance of Richard III.) There's little-to-no magic, but the setting is in a secondary world with a pantheon of gods.

I was badly thrown up by one item near the end, which skewed my overall opinion of the book. Consequently, I'm giving this three out of five theatrical stars, whereas otherwise it would likely have been a four-star-book.

P.S. For the curious, this is what threw me -- spoiler warning! -- Katre, one of the members of Saba's theater troupe, is critically wounded and may die; this is mentioned first on page 124 and then reiterated on page 144. Saba is fleetingly upset by this, but otherwise seems unbothered, engaging in repartee and gossip within minutes. This apparent indifference made her far less likable to me.

About my reviews: I try to review every book I read, including those that I don't end up enjoying. The reviews are not scholarly, but just indicate my reaction as a reader, reading being my addiction. I am miserly with 5-star reviews; 4 stars means I liked a book very much; 3 stars means I liked it; 2 stars means I didn't like it (though often the 2-star books are very popular with other readers and/or are by authors whose other work I've loved).